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L4T Ubuntu Bionic 18.04 Install Guide

Installation and update guide/tutorial for Switchroot L4T Ubuntu Bionic on Nintendo Switch

Current version: 5.1.2 (2023-8-25) Note: hekate 6.0.6 or newer MUST be used for this release. Maintainer: CTCaer - https://www.patreon.com/ctcaer

If you need help you can ask in our Discord Server under #bionic-support You should also take a look at our FAQ and Common Issues which may already answer to some of your questions

The important parts of the guide are the Installation and Update sections. You can skip the rest if you don't want extra information about the project.

Note: The latest LTS Release of Ubuntu (Noble 24.04) is now available instead of this older (Bionic 18.04) release.

Updating existing installations

If you come from a previous release and need to update.

  • In L4T Ubuntu Linux, go to the Software Updater app and click "Install Now" Or open terminal and execute: sudo apt update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade. After update is finished, reboot and done.

    • If Nvidia BSP was forcefully changed, creating a .reinit file into bootfiles directory (sd:/switchroot/{distro}/) will restore Kernel, Kernel Modules, Firmware and other important things on the next boot and make the installation working again. It can also be used if updater somehow failed to extract the modules and firmware.

  • If you haven't already, go to hekate -> Nyx Options -> Dump Joy-Con BT and dump Joycon pairing data, with both Joycon connected to console, after first pairing them in hos.

Prerequisites

  • hekate 6.0.6 or newer

  • A 16GB SD Card MINIMUM (Recommended: 128GB and up U3 or U3/A2 class)

  • A computer (for backing up and extracting the installation files)

  • A USB stick or hdd if that method is wanted (via Dock or OTG adapter)

Installation

  1. Download the base image directly or via torrent from here.

    • If eMMC or USB flashing is wanted instead of SD card, read the USB/eMMC guide, since a partitioning of sd card is not needed.

  2. Backup your SD Card:

    • Backup normal files from FAT32 (this also backs up emuMMC if file based)

    • If emuMMC raw partition exists, go to hekate -> Tools -> Backup eMMC.

      Tap on SD emuMMC RAW Partition button and back it up (emuMMC BOOT0/1 and emuMMC Raw GPP)

    • If android exists, do a TWRP backup Suggestion: Use hekate UMS (hekate -> Tools -> USB Tools) with a USB-C cable connecting your switch and PC to mount your SD card and transfer files instead of swapping your card from Switch to PC.

  3. WARNING: This following will wipe everything on your SD card. Partition your SD card in hekate -> Tools -> Partition SD Card leave at least 5GB for FAT32 for installation files downloaded in step 1 AND recreate any partition that may have backed up.

  4. From your PC, extract the 7z to the root of your SD FAT32 partition (Note that Win11's builtin 7z extract support is broken, use 7-zip and make sure not to create a new folder on extract). ALWAYS SAFELY EJECT storage when finished or you WILL corrupt the installation files. Suggestion: Use hekate UMS (hekate -> Tools -> USB Tools) with a USB-C cable connecting your switch and PC to mount your SD card instead of swapping your card from Switch to PC.

  5. In Hekate, go to Tools -> Partition SD Card -> Flash Linux.

  6. Go to hekate -> Nyx Options -> Dump Joy-Con BT to dump Joycon pairing data, with both Joycon connected to console, after they were paired in hos first. This must be run even if a Switch Lite is used, since it dumps the calibration data.

  7. Now you can boot L4T Ubuntu Bionic (under More Configs). Make sure any existing online updates are done via Software Updater or apt command.

  8. After making sure everything is fine, you can now restore your backed up files

    • Copy your normal files to FAT32

    • For emuMMC use Hekate to restore your backup hekate -> Tools -> Restore eMMC Tap on SD emuMMC RAW Partition button and restore it up (emuMMC BOOT0/1 and emuMMC Raw GPP)

    • For Android, copy your TWRP backup to your FAT32 partition then follow the Android setup guide starting at step 4 BUT instead of installing "Lineage zip, followed by your GApps zip" at step 5.(f on 10, g on 11) restore your backup in TWRP

Next Steps

Credits

CTCaer (kernel/bootloader, distro maintainer, NVENC/NVDEC) Gavin_Darkglider (distro maintainer) Azkali (distro maintainer) Ave (repo management and host) DanielOgorchock (Switch controller drivers/joycond) Bylaws Langerhans Natinusala stary2001 (reboot2payload) theofficialgman and cobalt2727 (L4T-Megascript) NVIDIA (Tegra BSP) Everyone else in switchroot

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