Hacking RELEASE Painless Linux - it's Linux, but painless (Windows, Mac OS, Linux & Android)

[natinusala]

Tired of trying to boot the useless Linux on your Switch without succeeding ? Tired of reading through the 57 guides I made just to see a black screen or USB error ? Fear no more, for I have come with...

~ Painless Linux ~​

Grab it while it's hot : https://github.com/natinusala/painless-linux
Everything is explaned in the README of the repository.

Now you can boot Linux from any system (Windows, Mac OS, Linux or Android), without any extra work :

1. Download the disk image
2. Burn it on your SD card using Etcher or dd
3. Clone or download the repository and use the provided scripts (for Android you need to copy 2 files)

The system is an improved version of @00Cancer's GNOME Arch Linux image :

• sudo
• chromium browser
• scripts to manage GPU clock profiles (courtesy of @Gigaa)
• SSH server enabled by default
• automatic root filesystem expand to fit your SD card

I will try to keep it updated, with incremental updates, if applicable. I will also keep this post minimal, as everything is already in the README.

Have fun with your almost functional Linux !

 

[ehnoah]

Goof Job! Is there a Touch Keyboard?

 

[Huntereb]

Nice, good proof of concept (Without the headaches) for when my USB-C cable arrives.

 

[natinusala]

Goof Job! Is there a Touch Keyboard?

There is, and I added it to the favorites so that you can easily find it

 

[Tommy084]

Thanks
will try this now!!

 

[EpicLPer]

Nice!

 

[ehnoah]

Can we run Emulators? Or do we have Vulkan Support etc.

 

[natinusala]

Can we run Emulators? Or do we have Vulkan Support etc.

You totally can, see my other tutorial to see how to build RetroArch, or build any other standalone emulator by hand.

 

[wiiarctus]

Is this totally painless (with the fast boot I asked for?)

 

[natinusala]

Is this totally painless (with the fast boot I asked for?)

Well it's just two steps : burn the SD card image and run the boot script. Nothing else !

edit : and it's GNOME

 

[Huntereb]

edit : and it's GNOME

You should throw together an image that boots into OpenBox or LXDE and make my life even easier, something more lightweight than Gnome. Will be cool to see some "distros" pop up for this device.

 

[natinusala]

You should throw together an image that boots into OpenBox or LXDE and make my life even easier, something more lightweight than Gnome. Will be cool to see some "distros" pop up for this device.

While I agree with you, what we currently have is not a distribution, it's a "let me install a bunch of things on the system and clone the SD card so you can have them too". That's why it's large, and that's why it's painful (for me) to make.

edit : take Lakka for instance, that is a true distribution. With the correct configuration it could be ran on the Switch without any issue. But we would need to backport the kernel, u-boot and coreboot in order to have a true image file.

 

[Huntereb]

While I agree with you, what we currently have is not a distribution, it's a "let me install a bunch of things on the system and clone the SD card so you can have them too". That's why it's large, and that's why it's painful (for me) to make.

There are much easier ways of doing this, but regardless, thank you for the effort and making it such a simple process for others.

 

[Deleted User]

Ok going to try this tonight cant wait anyone know what causes battery issue so i can try to avoid that?

 

[natinusala]

There are, but the result is more or less the same, and it works for me this way

Ok going to try this tonight cant wait anyone know what causes battery issue so i can try to avoid that?

For now you can't but it's being worked on.

 

[Huntereb]

Ok going to try this tonight cant wait anyone know what causes battery issue so i can try to avoid that?

It's safe to assume the kernel used here is nowhere near "battery-friendly" at this point. As I said, give it a little time and a lot more work will be done on this front by others.

 

[Chuardo]

Well it's just two steps : burn the SD card image and run the boot script. Nothing else !

edit : and it's GNOME

Can you do that on a relatively small SDCard and then Swap it with the SDCard that I use now with games on 5.0.2 when I use the console normally? And do the Joycons work now?

This is great honestly, I am really glad that there are so many people releasing new stuff every day, and this sounds great for everyone, I haven't tried anything yet because I heard about the Battery showing incorrect percentage or that they were destroying the Switch screen.

 

[hippy dave]

Hey, some people like pain.

 

[natinusala]

Can you do that on a relatively small SDCard and then Swap it with the SDCard that I use now with games on 5.0.2 when I use the console normally?

You can, you need a 8gb sd card though

And do the Joycons work now?

Nope

 

[ehnoah]

Someone need test it and check for batery issues. Not want to do the recharge stuff again haha.