Hacking Question What's stopping anyone from running android on switch?

[Vigg]

Sorry maybe a dumb question, but I was just wondering why I haven't seen or heard anyone talk about this. That must mean it's complicated.
I don't know a lot about this, but when I saw linux running on the switch, I wondered why android couldn't be ported.
I mean it's based on linux right? So it doesn't seem unthinkable to me. I know that doesn't mean you can instantly run android when you can run linux but still. Also the shield tablet has the same exact processor etc
as the switch so to me that also doesn't seem unthinkable. Also seeing as it's an arm cpu an capable of running android, can't you run android on linux through just a compatibility layer
like wine? A lot of questions but if you think you can answer any of them, thnx

Btw srry if I triggered anyone with my ignorance.

(Edit) Just saw an old post of someone running a proof of concept android port on switch from back in February. What happened? Never heard anything from it again.
https://gitlab.com/ByLaws/android_device_nintendo_switch source and last update says 2 moths ago.

 

[hippy dave]

There's been threads about it. The one you linked is still planned to be finished. Those devs recently released l4t Linux as a step along the way, having worked hard to get Nvidia's Linux shit running on Switch. Current Android status is they're waiting for Nvidia to release more updated drivers afaik.

 

[ELY_M]

I cant wait to test android on my trinket switch I am sure I would love to run it and test my android apps on it.

 

[FAST6191]

Wonder what will happen if android drops for the Switch and people have found themselves used to having functionality that people (occasionally even the devs of the open source projects) port and charge for on android but release for free on Linux, and thus the Switch Linux port that exists now and will presumably have got to be reasonably polished in the meantime. Occasionally being tapped to sort a problem on android often feels like those times I get tapped to sort things on OSX and it seems everybody and their mother embraced the "OSX owners suffer wallet too fat error" mindset*, even if it is not as bad as the same on IOS.

*last time was thankfully a few years ago. Just needed a plain NTFS mounter reader and writer, the likes of which Linux has had for years and years and years, to do a file copy style backup. Didn't care if it is was rough around the edges or anything like some of the ext stuff for Windows. Ended up doing something else to achieve it.

As for the question of the topic yeah it seems to be driver woes and nobody can be bothered to go manual for it all and reverse engineer things, same problem as Switch homebrew face (and 3ds homebrew faced) where the amount of effort to do something you can easily do on a thousand other devices.

On the flip side is there a kind of WINE for Android on ARM linux devices? Normally I have a proper VM or emulator (or X86 android) if I need such things so have not had cause to investigate such a possibility and it has been many many years since I messed with any kind of paravirtualisation.

 

[Hambrew]

I am sure this will help Switch Android development!

 

[Pipistrele]

Wonder what will happen if android drops for the Switch and people have found themselves used to having functionality that people (occasionally even the devs of the open source projects) port and charge for on android but release for free on Linux, and thus the Switch Linux port that exists now and will presumably have got to be reasonably polished in the meantime.

I think it'll be a matter of convenience more than anything. As cool as L4T for Switch is, it's kind of a pain in the ass to use on a touchscreen device; Android, on the other hand, is designed and polished with that in mind, and a lot of its apps are just better suited for something like Switch compared to whatever actual Linux has to offer.

 

[M7L7NK7]

I'm just excited for Android for San andreas

 

[coppertj]

I'm just excited for Android for San andreas

And hopefully half life 2 and portal
It's on the nvidia AppStore atleast

 

[Hambrew]

steam link anywhere + adding non-steam games to steam library + Switch with Android
Any better solutions for gaming. Hella no.

 

[masagrator]

I am sure this will help Switch Android development!

Shield Tablet uses different SoC (K1 vs X1), so... no.
And already android builds for Shield TV and Pixel C were checked by switchroot.