L4T Ubuntu
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Intro
L4T Ubuntu is a version of Linux based on nvidia's linux for tegra project. It uses a different kernel compared to previous releases which allows it to use features not yet in mainline. Such as audio, docking support and vulkan.

Join our discord: https://discord.gg/53mtKYt

We have a wiki !
To facilitate our work we will only update our wiki from now on in order to avoid multiple outdated references, please refer to the following link instead of this page
https://wiki.switchroot.org/en/Linux/Ubuntu-Install-Guide

Credits
Bylaws,
Langerhans,
Ave,
Natinusala,
CTCaer(most of the hard stuff),
Gavin_Darkglider,
DanielOgorchock(Joycon drivers/joycond),
stary2001 (reboot2payload),
NVIDIA,
Azkali
Everyone else in switchroot - more info on that in the future.

 

[konamicode89]

for anyone with unmet depencies durin kodi install:
sudo add-apt-repository universe

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo ppa-purge ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:team-xbmc/ppa

sudo apt-get install kodi

Thanks! this definitely worked for my 3.0 L4T setup.

Edit: NVM.. I ran into the startup issue and the whole desktop changed into the PC default..

 

[saffykun-t]

Hey man I'm sorry you ran into some problems here' surely got some of my own Haha' here we go'

Can you describe the start up issue that's occurring or perhaps get a screenshot that may help'
Also the other thing you are referring to maybe because your in another environment session? As oppose to the one you setup the way you like' you can simply log out and click the gear icon below the password section to see what session you are currently about to log into ' if you can see a dropdown list after clicking the gear you should see kodi unity and ubuntu' ' you can select kodi from here to boot straight into it when you login' /_ unity is the desktop environment you should have originally started into when you installed 3.0 so give that a try?
Thanks

 

[CameronCataclysm]

This has been ABSOLUTELY EPIC. I have struggled through the years and never had a PC that could emulate GC properly. This has worked great for all of the big name games I'm finally getting to play since childhood (With minute setting tinkering.) IE: Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi's Mansion, Simpson's Road Rage, Simpson's Hit and Run. I truthfully would kill for some help on 2 things regarding the dolphin core!
1. Widescreen fix for Sunshine?(Widescreen hack causes overbearing image dupe overlay and I have enabled cheats for the Widescreen and 60fps AR/Gecko codes, but cant get the .cht file to actually register even after manual input)

2. For the life of me I cant get Sims Bustin' Out to solid FPS (I will obtain the life achievement "Boyfriend Of The Year Award")

To the devs thanks for all of the work, any feedback would be most appreciated. Stay safe and thanks for all of your work. @natinusala @bylaws

 

[alecto]

I managed to install the 3.0.0 version on my switch. But I am unable to get bluetooth headphones to work. And I did a sudo apt-get update and sudo apt-get upgrade as recommended but after this it wont connect connect to my 5Ghz wifi.
My intention was to run Moonlight but if the Wifi doesnt work then moonlight can not work.
Can anyone please help?
EDIT:
Also can someone please share the link for the discord server? I read back and found thats its quicker to get support there.

 

[IGHOR]

I confirm that on 3.0.0 version, once device goes to sleep, Dock (Skull & Co. Jumpgate) stops to be recognized even after restart. None of HDMI, USB works. Only full shutdown, re-payload helps.

 

[Chrisssj2]

Will USB OTG be supported at some point?

 

[Geridious4]

Do i need a seperate SD card to install this or can I use the same SD card i'm using for atmosphere?

Do I download the full or lite image? or both? just trying to figure out the difference

 

[blaww]

How do I enable Vulkan in regular Dolphin (not Ishiikura)? Just installed it and my only options are OpenGL and software renderer

Edit- nevermind, installed a different build and Vulkan is there, but games just crash. OpenGL works but it's unplayable

 

[death7lord]

Hello. A new Hekate with partition manager is released. Now will we can hope to a new release of L4T at near future? or no? Or how long to wait it?

 

[The Official GMan]

Does anyone have experience getting banned after running linux on your nintendo switch? From what I have read, getting banned shouldn't be a possibility doing this.

Edit: Not planning on running CFW or anything, just want to run linux sometimes if I want by injecting the payload

 

[Deleted member 512337]

How to reboot2payload? On 3.0.0

 

[Deleted User]

L4t Ubuntu 3.0.0 full is very buggy (didn't tested the other ones) :
Bug :
Even if the Switch battery is full, the battery will be shown a red critical low.
Bug :
When trying to login (on the login screen), the screen keeps flickering and rotating.
Not a bug :
The nvidia logo is not rotated correctly.
Bug :
Sometimes the screen freeze during session.
Bug :
Pressing of the power power stop the screen, but you can't start it back again by pressing the power button.
Bug :
Can't use joycons as mouse (tried it both with qjoypad and this).
Not a bug :
Need to manually extend the Ubuntu ext4 partition with GParted to avoid bugs caused by lack of space.
Not a bug :
Is it compatible with Ubuntu > 18.04

How to reboot2payload? On 3.0.0

Just do normal reboot from Ubuntu user interface, or do :
sudo reboot or shutdown -r 00 in terminal
Don't forget to install lastest Hekate and bootlogos on your SD card.

 

[Magic009]

Confirmed for me: third parties docks are working good, sometimes don't catch de signal, but the image coming again on screen.

 

[The Official GMan]

Is anyone aware of a way to change the refresh rate of the external hdmi output? When I dock my switch it automatically goes to 4K @ 30 hz (max spec) but changing it to 1080 still results in 30 hz.

Edit: Switching to the gnome desktop gives me framerate and resolution control for the hdmi output built into the settings gui

 

[The Official GMan]

Is anyone getting high CPU utilization from compiz (the desktop management utitility)? When I run opengl, vulkan, or chromium I get anywhere from 50-100% utilization from compiz alone.

Edit: Changing to the gnome desktop eliminates compiz and there are the unexpected cpu utilization

 

[The Official GMan]

How to reboot2payload? On 3.0.0

I'm pretty sure you just reboot from within ubuntu. When I hit reboot it just goes back to hekate and shutdown fully shuts down the switch.

L4t Ubuntu 3.0.0 full is very buggy (didn't tested the other ones) :
Bug :
Even if the Switch battery is full, the battery will be shown a red critical low.
Bug :
When trying to login (on the login screen), the screen keeps flickering and rotating.
Not a bug :
The nvidia logo is not rotated correctly.
Bug :
Sometimes the screen freeze during session.
Bug :
Pressing of the power power stop the screen, but you can't start it back again by pressing the power button.
Bug :
Can't use joycons as mouse (tried it both with qjoypad and this).
Not a bug :
Need to manually extend the Ubuntu ext4 partition with GParted to avoid bugs caused by lack of space.
Not a bug :
Is it compatible with Ubuntu > 18.04

Just do normal reboot from Ubuntu user interface, or do :
sudo reboot or shutdown -r 00 in terminal
Don't forget to install lastest Hekate and bootlogos on your SD card.

The red critical low is a result of the joycons batteries being displayed as 0% at all times and sometimes the default desktop manager picks this as the main battery. I switched to the gnome desktop and it always shows the switch's battery with its percentage and even estimates the runtime left.

As for the rotation issues, I just disabled the rotation functionality within ubuntu (just google search it for your desktop manager).

Hmm, haven't had those power button problems, mine works fine waking from and going to sleep state.

The ext4 partition is intentionally kept small so you can install the operating system on a smaller sd card (expanding should be able to be done from within the booted ubuntu), though I did personally have problems with expanding the FAT32 partition (same sd card for switch games and linux with different partitions).

How do I enable Vulkan in regular Dolphin (not Ishiikura)? Just installed it and my only options are OpenGL and software renderer

Edit- nevermind, installed a different build and Vulkan is there, but games just crash. OpenGL works but it's unplayable

If you tick the boot to fullscreen mode box when using vulkan I find that regular Dolphin builds work fine (some strange bug I guess). I find the current Dolphin builds and ishiiruka build to have the same performance under Vulkan so I just stuck with the current Dolphin dev build. BTW some games run fullspeed but others can dip to 40fps minimum (dolphin's emulated cpu is bottlenecked by the switch's cpu)

 

[IGHOR]

Not a bug :
Is it compatible with Ubuntu > 18.04

Here is used Jetson Nano kernel sources, that has similar hardware.
So it is just awful NVIDIA support, they have released official drivers with linux kernel 4.9.140 three years ago, and never updated it! https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/upgrading-kernel-to-5/112113

But there is still hope https://linux-hardware.org/?probe=1b215dd48c

 

[Imancol]

How do I check on the interface of L4T Ubuntu which version I currently have? (3.0)

 

[starwind23]

joycon as mouse works great. use the line in the app install post and the file in the post you linked. verify file moved if you have drift in the mouse I added a dead zone in my file. Use sudo mv to move file and remove .txt

 

[Imancol]

After leaving the console in suspend mode while on L4T Ubuntu, in a few hours I tried to turn it on but it gave me a black screen.
I tried to restart it and it was still on the black screen. When placing my MicroSD on the PC, I tried to see what was happening, I resigned myself to format it and to my surprise, it gave me an error. Later I realized that I ended up with a write protected MicroSD, which will not allow me to format it, or anything ...

I have tried using low level formatting software. But nothing. For now, I put the MicroSD on my Switch with the Payload memloader to mount the MicroSD on the PC it is formatting me at a low level, but it is slow ... unfortunately I do not think I will use L4T Ubuntu again if these things happen and not they seem easy to remedy.