THIS GUIDE IS DEPRECATED
THIS IS BETTER https://github.com/natinusala/painless-linux

I've successfully booted ArchLinux using ShofEL2. Here is a quick guide on how to do it - I'll assume you're computer literate and know how to use a terminal / Linux commands / git.
Everything is taken from the README of the ShofEL2 repo so if you want to go even faster, go read that instead.

Thanks to NightHammer1000 and Y2K-x for the help !

There is a simplified and faster version of this tutorial available here, with precompiled binaries so you don't have to build everything : https://github.com/SoulCipher/shofel2_linux

The result

Without a SD card ("waiting for root device mmcblk0p2") : https://photos.app.goo.gl/7y6ut5ObuHMUIMZg2
Stock Arch Linux : https://photos.app.goo.gl/yALqe3zMZRe2dSQf1
Arch Linux with LXDE : https://photos.app.goo.gl/xaEgRqeSi8jvAwpz5
RetroArch running : https://photos.app.goo.gl/vBLPo5wiBto1qiUH3
Arch Linux with GNOME : https://gbatemp.net/attachments/img_0005-jpg.121608/
Arch Linux with KDE : https://gbatemp.net/attachments/img_20180427_121605-jpg.121666/

What works / what doesn't

• Desktop environment : Gnome, LXDE, KDE
• Wi-Fi : works
  • You will need to reboot your Switch and run the exploit again to make the Wi-Fi work (it never works on the first boot)
  • Then enter the Network Manager Application and add your network from there
  • If it doesn't work, you will need to edit the configuration on the host computer (see the additional notes at the end of this post)
  • With LXDE : Can cause a kernel panic if used at the same time as Bluetooth
• Bluetooth : works but Joy-Cons can't be paired
• Touch screen : works, although LXDE is not very touch-friendly
• Audio : doesn't work yet
• GPU acceleration : works (via mesa), with OpenGL (and maybe Vulkan too ?)
• Joy-Cons : not recognized
• Volume buttons : working with Gnome but not doing anything since there is no audio device
• Power button : doesn't do anything, no sleep mode, no graceful shutdown
• USB : doesn't work
• Dock : not tested yet, but I bet it doesn't do anything besides charging the battery
• Power management / battery level : working with Gnome

What you'll need

• A computer running Linux with a blue USB SuperSpeed port, or a Mac
  • A Linux VM can work in theory, but it depends on how the USB passthrough is implemented (apparently VMWare works, VirtualBox doesn't)
• A USB A-to-C cable (with data support, obviously)
  • be careful as cheap cables were reported to work randomly / not work at all
• Some time (you know, Linux is kinda large)

Prep work

First, you'll need to install the required toolchains. Open this link and download the tar.gz binaries for

• aarch64-linux-gnu
  
• arm-linux-gnueabi

Be careful to choose the right architecture for your PC (for me it was x86_64 so "gcc-linaro-7.2.1-2017.11-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabi.tar.xz").

Once you have them, extract them somewhere nice and add the "bin" (not "lib" as I previously stated) folder of both toolchains to your PATH ("$ export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/toolchain1/lib:/path/to/toolchain2/lib"). The building process won't work otherwise.

Then, install those dependencies (how to install them and their name might depend on your distribution) :

• build-essential (sorry I didn't add it it was obvious to me)
• libssl-dev
  
• swig
• bison
• pkg-config
  
• flex
• zlib1g-dev
  
• python3
• python-dev
  
• python3-pip
• pyusb 1.0.0 : "$ sudo pip3 install pyusb==1.0.0"
• libusb-1.0-0-dev

Compiling

Clone each required repository :

$ git clone https://github.com/fail0verflow/shofel2.git
$ git clone --recursive --depth=1 https://github.com/fail0verflow/switch-coreboot.git coreboot
$ git clone https://github.com/fail0verflow/switch-u-boot.git u-boot
$ git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/fail0verflow/switch-linux.git linux
$ git clone https://github.com/boundarydevices/imx_usb_loader.git

You can grab a coffee or two because Linux has more than 5 million files to download.

Then, build everything :

$ cd shofel2/exploit
$ make

$ cd u-boot
$ export CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu-
$ make nintendo-switch_defconfig
$ make

$ cd coreboot
$ make nintendo_switch_defconfig
$ make iasl
$ make

If you have a tegra_mtc.bin file error, you'll have to extract it from a Pixel C stock image :
"$ ./build/util/cbfstool/cbfstool bootloader-dragon-google_smaug.7900.97.0.img extract -n fallback/tegra_mtc -f tegra_mtc.bin"

Or you can download it directly from here : https://0w0.st/tegra_mtc.bin (thanks to @CptPotato for uploading this)

You'll have to put it in the "coreboot/src/soc/nvidia/tegra210" directory.

$ cd imx_usb_loader
$ git reset --hard 0a322b01cacf03e3be727e3e4c3d46d69f2e343e
$ make

The big one :

$ cd linux
$ export ARCH=arm64
$ export CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu-
$ make nintendo-switch_defconfig
$ make

If you encounter issues about a missing rule "/lib/firmware/nvidia/tegra210/vic04_ucode.bin" for the target "firmware" you'll have to :

• install the firmware-misc-nonfree package
• if you can't install it, or if it still doesn't work, download the package manually from debian sid and extract the file "/lib/firmware/nvidia/tegra210/vic04_ucode.bin" (from the root of your PC, not on the cloned repo) from the DEB (and chmod it if needed)

If you encounter issues about a missing rule "/lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac4356-pcie.txt", download this file and put it in "/lib/firmware/brcm/" (from the root of your PC, not on the cloned repo)

Building the rootfs

This is the annoying part. Download the archive / image corresponding to the distribution you want to use :

• Stock Arch Linux (useless without UART, you can't even log in) : http://os.archlinuxarm.org/os/ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz
• Arch Linux with LXDE and touch screen support (credits to @Gigaa) :
  • Without hardware acceleration : https://0w0.st/rootfs.tar.bz2
  • With hardware acceleration : https://0w0.st/rootfs2.tar.bz2
  • With hardware acceleration, Chromium and sudo : https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VIH3GWtBrM4uuVQOQopASYZy4x3Jw1Uv
• Arch Linux with Gnome (credits to @00Cancer) : https://0w0.st/gnome__rootfs.tar.bz2
• (Recommended) Arch Linux with KDE and GPU power management service (credits to @Gigaa) : https://0w0.st/KDE_rootfs3.tar.bz2
• Ubuntu 18.04 (you'll have to build the image yourself) : https://github.com/cmsj/nintendo-switch-ubuntu-builder

If it's a tarball you just downloaded

While it's downloading, you'll have to take a microSD card and, using the software of your choice (I used GParted) :

• remove every existing partition to only have unallocated space on it (do I need to tell you that you're going to loose everything on the card ?)
• create a tiny FAT32 partition (I chose 200mb but it doesn't matter) - that'll be mmcbkl0p1, you can label it "garbage"
• create an ext4 partition on the remaining part of the card - that'll be mmcblk0p2, you can label it "rootfs"
• it's important that the FAT32 partition comes first and the ext4 one comes after - on the Switch, Linux will look for mmcblk0p2, the second partition, if you have scrolling boot logs and then back to RCM it means you did it wrong

Once the rootfs tarball is downloaded, you can simple extract it to the mounting point of the ext4 partition you just created :

$ tar xvf ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz -C /mounting/point/of/ext4/partition && sync
$ cp ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz /mounting/point/of/ext4/partition/root && sync

("/mounting/point/of/ext4/partition/root" is the "root" directory on the partition)

Don't forget to properly eject the SD Card !

If "tar xvf" doesn't work for you you can install "bsdtar" and use "bsdtar -xpf" instead

Then you can put the SD card in the console.

If it's a img / bin file you just downloaded

You can simply write it on your SD card using :

• If you're on Windows, Ether or Win32DiskImager
• If you're on Linux / Mac OS : "sudo dd if=yourimage.img of=/dev/sdX && sync" where /dev/sdX is the device of your SD card (unmounted)

You will probably want to open a partition manager to resize the ext4 partition once it's flashed, so that it fits your SD card.

Then you can put the SD card in the console.

Booting linux

Run the exploit :

$ cd shofel2/exploit
$ sudo ./shofel2.py cbfs.bin ../../coreboot/build/coreboot.rom

Your terminal should now be waiting for the Switch to enter RCM mode.

To do so : (I don't have pictures but that's the same method as fusée gelée, just look at some video tutorials)

• plug the Switch on your PC using the USB A-to-C cable - use a blue SuperSpeed port if you have one
• shut it down
• remove the right joy-con
• using a method of your choice, short the 10th pin of the right joy-con (the last pin on the right, away from the screen, closer to the back) with the ground : that can be pin 1, 2 or 7, that can also be a screw on the joy-con rack or the console's fan - I personnaly stick a RPi jumper wire in the fan and touch the 10th pin on the other side, works everytime (like this)
• keep the pins shorted and power the Switch while pressing the volume UP button

If it worked, the console will show a black screen and you'll see the exploit running on your terminal. If you see the Nintendo logo, it has failed. You can power off the console and try again.

Then, run those last commands :

$ cd shofel2/usb_loader
$ ../../u-boot/tools/mkimage -A arm64 -T script -C none -n "boot.scr" -d switch.scr switch.scr.img
$ sudo ../../imx_usb_loader/imx_usb -c .

Linux should then boot on your console - first the boot logs with the penguins, and then an ArchLinux login prompt. Voilà !
Again, if you have the boot logs and then a black screen, it means you did the SD card part wrong.

Additional notes

Hardware graphics acceleration

The most recents image already contain this fix.

To add mesa drivers install this package using pacman :
https://0w0.st/mesa-full-tegra-r101876.bf5e0276b6-1-aarch64.pkg.tar.xz

You will need a working internet connection to do so.

Then, use this script to choose your power profile : https://0w0.st/power.sh

Full speed RAM

According to the blog post ("Linux on Switch boot chain" section), you need to extract a file from a Pixel C factory image in order to have the RAM working at full speed. I didn't do it so I won't cover it here.

Fixing calibration issues of the touch screen (thanks to @Wizardy)

To fix calibration issues of the touch screen, edit the file /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.confg (of the rootfs)

And change the InputClass section to :

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "evdev touchscreen catchall"
        MatchIsTouchscreen "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "evdev"
        Option "InvertX" "no"
        Option "InvertY" "yes"
        Option "SwapAxes" "yes"
        Option "Calibration" "0 1279 0 719"
EndSection

Wi-Fi

To setup Wi-Fi, mount the rootfs partition on your host PC and edit the configuration for your network in the file "/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections" (if it doesn't exist, take Gigaspot).

To have a working Wi-Fi you must reboot your Switch and run the exploit again each time you power it off

Moving the rootfs to another partition

If you want to move the rootfs to another partition on your SD card, edit the "shofel2/usb_loader/switch.scr" file and replace "/dev/mmcblk0p2" by the partition you want to use.

 

[kombos]

Is this a "Clean Image" or does it contain any modifications?
Does it has Auto Login implemented already?

Nope. Clean. However you can mount it on SD card and do any mods itself. I'm working on something else currently.

 

[DerProGamer2000]

maybe an android image

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

android is based of off linux right
so would be possible

 

[robozman]

To anyone who got graphics output working, what packages did you install? I got LXDM to display with touch input last night but after wiping my SD and trying to set it up again it doesn't work. The VT login shows up on default boot, but I just get dropped to a black screen after enabling LXDM(.service). The lxdm log complans about not being able to load any DRI libs in /usr/lib/dri. Errors also reference tegra_dri.so being missing, though I don't remember copying that in or installing a package that might have contained it last night, though maybe I just don't remember as it was 3AM.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, here are some instruction for chrooting into the ArchArm sd to install packages. (instructions only tested on Arch as the root user
1. Install qemu-user-static from the aur (Other distributions likely have a compariable package to this) (There is a qemu-user-static-bin package if you don't want to compile but I have not tested this package)
2. Create a rule for the linux kernel to user qemu to run aarch64 binaries. Put the following in /etc/binfmt.d/qemu-arm64.conf

:qemu-arm64:M::\x7fELF\x02\x01\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x02\x00\xb7:\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\x00\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xfe\xff\xff:/usr/bin/qemu-aarch64-static:OC

3. Run the related systemd service to enable this rule

systemctl start systemd-binfmt

4. Mount the Arch ARM sd's root partition. (/mnt/root is used for this)

mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/root

5. Copy the qemu binary into the chroot

cp /usr/bin/qemu-aarch64-bin /mnt/root/usr/bin

6. Do some other mounting logic (I made this into a script and put it into /mnt to make this easier)

mount /dev/sda2 root
mount -o bind /dev root/dev
mount -t proc /proc root/proc
mount -o bind /dev/pts root/dev/pts
chroot root /bin/bash

7. Run the commands you would like.
8. Leave the chroot

exit

9. Unmount everything so you can remove the sdcard

sync
umount -R /mnt/root

Some notes:
In order to use the network in the chroot you will have to setup resolv.conf. I suggest moving the existing file (actually it's a symlink) at /etc/resolv.conf to /etc/resolv.conf.bak and make a temporary /etc/resolv.conf with the contents

nameserver 8.8.8.8

Make sure to revert this back before leaving the chroot


My system sometimes becomes wierdly unstable while using this. If anyone has any idea why I would be interested. i think based on what I've read it's maybe forwarding some x86 binaries to qemu but I can't see why it would be doing this.


If this is completely broken let me know and I'll see what I forgot to write up.

 

[DerProGamer2000]

for me its not logging in with the img file

 

[dj505]

View attachment 121360

will it work?

I got the same errors but yea, it'll work just fine

 

[Gren22]

Can anyone explain to me what I am doing wrong here? I've tried 3 different SD cards dozens of times and can't get it to load the filesystem....

I've tried just copying the image file someone else posted straight to the sd card and still does the same thing.

 

[DerProGamer2000]

and yes confirmed working on vmware with ubuntu
so you can do everything too on windows with a ubuntu vm
but i can't get past: alarm login: [13.xxxxxx] random: crng init done

 

[dj505]

Can anyone explain to me what I am doing wrong here? I've tried 3 different SD cards dozens of times and can't get it to load the filesystem....

I've tried just copying the image file someone else posted straight to the sd card and still does the same thing.

For extracting the image, instead of the standard 'tar xvf' or whatever it was, install bsdtar and try

bsdtar -xpf ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz -C /path/to/ext4/mountpoint

 

[Gren22]

For extracting the image, instead of the standard 'tar xvf' or whatever it was, install bsdtar and try

bsdtar -xpf ArchLinuxARM-aarch64-latest.tar.gz -C /path/to/ext4/mountpoint

I've used bsdtar a number of times and the result is the same hence why I went back to tar since that is what was originally used.

 

[dj505]

I've used bsdtar a number of times and the result is the same hence why I went back to tar since that is what was originally used.

Oh alright, my bad haha. I've given that advice a few times now to multiple people in other places and I couldn't remember whether I already mentioned it here.

 

[Gren22]

Oh alright, my bad haha. I've given that advice a few times now to multiple people in other places and I couldn't remember whether I already mentioned it here.

Not a problem, several people have suggested it to me and it might fix an issue I may have in the future I guess but I don't think it should be causing trouble at this stage, and pretty sure it isn't since it doesn't work with bsdtar either. Just trying to get an idea from other people on if I am doing something wrong that is very silly cause that is usually what it is.

 

[DerProGamer2000]

oh ok the alarm login means that it is working and that linux i fully booted the rest is up to the user because you need a serial conection or so but i don't know any of this so i don't care and wait for a img with gui or so

 

[dj505]

Not a problem, several people have suggested it to me and it might fix an issue I may have in the future I guess but I don't think it should be causing trouble at this stage, and pretty sure it isn't since it doesn't work with bsdtar either. Just trying to get an idea from other people on if I am doing something wrong that is very silly cause that is usually what it is.

Alright haha. Also, I noticed you have a script for starting Linux (running ./boot_linux.sh); did you make this script or does it come with the repo? I can't find anything like it.

 

[Gren22]

Alright haha. Also, I noticed you have a script for starting Linux (running ./boot_linux.sh); did you make this script or does it come with the repo? I can't find anything like it.

I made one myself a while back but someone else posted a github repository where everything is pre-compiled with the script so I downloaded that in case I had compiled stuff wrong and used the script it came with. I think the repository is linked in the OP on this thread now.

 

[00Cancer]

I made one myself a while back but someone else posted a github repository where everything is pre-compiled with the script so I downloaded that in case I had compiled stuff wrong and used the script it came with. I think the repository is linked in the OP on this thread now.

Just so you know that this error has nothing to do with the pre-compiled script, I tried to install Linux as well, using the guide, and I get the error as well

 

[Lumince]

Question, for the linux install step. I have a 256 gb sd card and have all of my games installed on it....
Would I have to
1- Backup sd card, format, install linux with partitions, and then copy the backup to the empty partition?
or could I
2- Make the necessary partitions on the sd cards unallocated memory, and then install it?

I have a feeling that I will have to do the first one and want to avoid that tbh... I might just get a 64gb sd card for linux.

 

[CptPotato]

So how did you get it to work? Your last post said you got a black screen. Even the precompiled linux now gives me black screen again. I had it running once. Could it be my cheap usb cable ...
?

I feel like a broken record at this point, but same. Tried running the precompiled after my own didn't work, and there's no difference. Running the final command with sudo, everything in Terminal appears as if it's working, but on the console, nada. I'm usually not this bad at troubleshooting, but this has me stumped, since the Terminal is acting like everything's fine. I considered the fact that it might just be the VM, but there are people claiming their VM setup works just fine in this very thread. Want to install Linux on my PC proper and try there, but my Ryzen processor is too new, most distros/kernels/drivers are still unstable. Looks like I'll have to try the old shitty laptop just to see if I can get something to run. sigh

 

[Admiral124]

I feel like a broken record at this point, but same. Tried running the precompiled after my own didn't work, and there's no difference. Running the final command with sudo, everything in Terminal appears as if it's working, but on the console, nada. I'm usually not this bad at troubleshooting, but this has me stumped, since the Terminal is acting like everything's fine. I considered the fact that it might just be the VM, but there are people claiming their VM setup works just fine in this very thread. Want to install Linux on my PC proper and try there, but my Ryzen processor is too new, most distros/kernels/drivers are still unstable. Looks like I'll have to try the old shitty laptop just to see if I can get something to run. sigh

It's not just VMs, I run Debian as my main OS and out of about 20 tries I've only managed to get Linux to show up once on my Switch. Every other time it's just been a black screen.

 

[xXDungeon_CrawlerXx]

but i can't get past: alarm login: [13.xxxxxx] random: crng init done

Same here.
Anyone who can help us to login into Linux, probably with sharing their added/modified files?

 

[robozman]

I feel like a broken record at this point, but same. Tried running the precompiled after my own didn't work, and there's no difference. Running the final command with sudo, everything in Terminal appears as if it's working, but on the console, nada. I'm usually not this bad at troubleshooting, but this has me stumped, since the Terminal is acting like everything's fine. I considered the fact that it might just be the VM, but there are people claiming their VM setup works just fine in this very thread. Want to install Linux on my PC proper and try there, but my Ryzen processor is too new, most distros/kernels/drivers are still unstable. Looks like I'll have to try the old shitty laptop just to see if I can get something to run. sigh

It's not just VMs, I run Debian as my main OS and out of about 20 tries I've only managed to get Linux to show up once on my Switch. Every other time it's just been a black screen.

I have gotten it to work. but honestly it only works 50% of the time for me. The rest of the time it looks like yours. I would suggest running

watch -n "lsusb"

in another terminal while you run the commands and see what it shows. Mine initially shows "Nvidia Inc" on the list when it's in recovery mode (after pin10+volup+power) and then Nvida...U-Boot after running the first command "shofel2l.py". It then shows nothing after the ix-usb command. I always can get past the first checkpoint. but it dies after. I would try booting recovery w/w/o usb, waiting some time between running the two commands (20-30 sec), and rebooting into switch os between tries. Mybe one of these will make it work.