
The Nintendo Switch Switch - bitcynth
https://blog.cynthia.re/post/nintendo-switch-ethernet-switch
======
ollien
At my college, we have an airgapped network for security classes, and when
assignments are due, we often run out of ethernet cables. I had just mentioned
I would bring a switch with me the next day and people were confused why I'd
be goofing off with a Switch so close to the deadline.

Now we can avoid that kind of confusion! :)

~~~
thaumasiotes
> when assignments are due, we often run out of ethernet cables. I had just
> mentioned I would bring a switch with me the next day

As I understand it, a switch will solve a shortage of ethernet ports, but will
make the cable problem worse by requiring one extra cable. What's the purpose
of the switch here?

~~~
laughinghan
I think they mean out of ethernet-cables-that-are-usable-to-get-network-
access. So there's loose cables aplenty, but a shortage of cables that work in
the sense of the far end being plugged in, due to a shortage of ports.

From the perspective of a student walking into the room with their laptop,
that's a shortage of cable-ends that they can plug into their laptop to gain
network access.

~~~
randogogogo
Either way, I'm surprised port security isn't enabled in an educational
environment like this.

~~~
tomjen3
Why should it be, or even be detectable if OP attaches a switch? Afaik, those
don't even have different MACs and even if they do, it is unlikely that the
university has all the students laptops MACs.

~~~
andykx
Switches have MAC addresses.

------
anon9001
I'm surprised to not see anyone talking about how Switch homebrew works and
which devices are compatible. There's both hardware and software patches to
worry about.

Here's the most up-to-date guide with version numbers and bootloader choices
and such: [https://nh-server.github.io/switch-guide/](https://nh-
server.github.io/switch-guide/)

------
afandian
I'm [vaguely] interested in unconventional Android devices.

People often talk about "plenty of android devices with X" where x is e.g. a
keyboard. But a search of Google, Ali Express, etc don't yield much except for
conventional phones.

Is there a list or other source where I can discover these mythical
interesting devices?

~~~
wtracy
This is probably not quite what you're talking about, but:

I'm convinced there's a bunch of interesting single-purpose Android devices
that simply aren't available to the general public. The manufacturers are
large companies that you've probably heard of that don't do business on places
like AliExpress. Unfortunately, the devices in question are "enterprise"
products, and sold accordingly.

For example, the self-service kiosks at Taco Bell seem to be Android-based,
though I can't confirm this. Good luck finding a supplier who will sell you
those in lots of less than a thousand.

Swinging around to your original question, I occasionally hear about MIPS-
based Android tablets made for Indian or Chinese markets. I'm sure they're on
AliExpress, but I doubt they're clearly labeled as MIPS.

~~~
smichel17
Norwegian Air's in-flight entertainment systems (screen on the back of the
seat in front of you) are modified/custom Android tablets. When you open the
flight tracker you can see the regular Android buttons at the bottom and pull
down to see the notification area (which has been modified to contain no
content). Didn't find a way out of their sandbox, maybe next time I'll bring a
male-male usb cable and see if I can get in with adb..

------
core-questions
Cute project! Sometimes it's nice to see a simple hack that elucidates
perfectly just how amazing it is to actually be able to run our own software
on a variety of devices. With Linux support, these devices will be useful for
decades to do random things.

~~~
bitcynth
thank you :) I have other evil network related ideas for this in the near
future :p

------
mercora
i am a bit disappointed that what has been done is basically installing linux
and setting up a bridge using usb ethernet dongles. not what i was expecting.
its still somewhat amusing though.

~~~
pfundstein
Yeah, and only two ports so it's not useful as a switch. It could be useful as
a router though.

~~~
Moru
Very expensive extension cable? :-)

------
rjeli
Woah, didn’t realize you could install Linux on the switch now. Got me
thinking about the uses for a portable tx2 tablet...

~~~
Lammy
There is a hardware vulnerability in the first ~18 months of Switch systems
produced. It’s a USB boot mode (like DFU mode in iPhones) from the underlying
Tegra chipset and is triggered by pressing the Tegra “Home” button (not the
Switch Home button!), one of the Volume buttons, and Power while injecting the
software you want to boot over USB. That button is exposed as one of the pins
(#9, iirc?) of the right-side Joycon rail, so all you have to do is short that
to ground with anything you like. 3D printed jigs are cheap and common.

Your system will get banned from Nintendo online services if you run any
Switch-mode homebrew—for good reason since piracy and online hacking have
unfortunately become rampant—so the most I’ve done with mine is run the
standalone Hekate to dump my system’s unique keys and internal storage a few
times. I’m still enjoying the system for its intended use too much to want to
go offline forever, so I’m just holding on to an exploitable system for a few
years until the Next Big Thing comes along.

As for obtaining an exploitable system, all you need is one manufactured
before July 2018. I keep the following in the Notes app on my phone for when I
see a used system for sale in the wild:

Exploitable Switch Serial Ranges

Serials beginning with XAW1:

\- XAW1007XXX and below are safe to buy

\- XAW1008XXX not safe to buy, probably patched

\- XAW1009XXX and above definitely patched

Serials beginning with XAW7:

\- XAW70017X and below are safe to buy

\- XAW70018X not safe to buy, probably patched

\- XAW70019X and above definitely patched

Serials beginning with XAJ4:

\- XAJ40052X and below are safe to buy

\- XAJ40053X not safe to buy, probably patched

\- XAJ4006XX and above definitely patched

Serials beginning with XAJ7:

\- XAJ70042X and below are safe to buy

\- XAJ70043X not safe to buy, probably patched

\- XAJ7005XX and above definitely patched

Happy hunting!

~~~
Wowfunhappy
> Your system will get banned from Nintendo online services if you run any
> Switch-mode homebrew

What you can do is set up a separate Homebrew-enabled partition on your SD
card without any wifi networks to connect to, and keep your normal, untouched
partition for normal use.

For similar reasons, installing Android/Linux is safe.

------
aidenn0
Living in the US, I'm a bit jealous of the 100mbit upload...

~~~
kube-system
If you're in a Fios area, Verizon's running a deal on 940/880 Mbps right now
for $74.99.

~~~
aidenn0
Cable or DSL only here and I pay about that for 120/16.

------
littlecranky67
The author's main motivation is probably the cool name "Nintendo Switch
Switch" but a bridge is not a switch, so it should be called a "Nintendo
Switch Bridge".

~~~
whalesalad
Being a little pedandic here aren't we? For all intents and purposes a bridge
is basically a switch with two ports. At the end of the day this is running on
a Linux kernel so it can basically be any networking device you want it to be,
even a router.

~~~
Moru
Or an extension repeater adapter?

~~~
littlecranky67
No, even a two-port bridge is smarter than physical extension/repeater. I.e.
the bridge will not forward ethernet frames to the other port if the
destination if assumed to be in the originating network segment.

------
VectorLock
Putting PiHole on this would have been wonderful.

~~~
bitcynth
_notes down_

------
bduerst
Bravo. So is the Fast (megabit) Ethernet speed bottleneck with the USB ports?

Do you think you could get gigabit Ethernet speeds?

------
saagarjha
Interesting CSS you’ve got there on your blog page ;)

~~~
bitcynth
blame my friend Ben, I just cloned his blog and Cynthiaified it :P
[https://blog.benjojo.co.uk/](https://blog.benjojo.co.uk/)

~~~
bluedino
I think he was alluding to the HN look and feel

~~~
saagarjha
I’d be inclined to believe she understood that.

------
outliergroup
Was this inspired by the meme?

------
jcmontx
No one:

Absolutely nobody:

A Nintendo Switch that works as a switch

------
gotoeleven
Thats nothing I turned my playstation into a space station.

