Is the Switch the second console this generation to run FreeBSD?

[bpierre]

https://twitter.com/marcan42/status/837481011508195329

[yifanlu]

No. The Vita also has FreeBSD listed in its OSS page because it used a lot of the network stack. That listing doesn't mean anything.

[dottedmag]

Is it or is it just a <tree.h> header from FreeBSD copied to the source code?

[freeone3000 → dottedmag]

sys/socket.h is the most likely culprit.

[monocasa]

Huh, looks like they're still using the netfront browser (and it's webkit internals).

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/support/oss/

Yay for exploits!

[TazeTSchnitzel → monocasa]

Ah, just like the 3DS.

Developing for ancient WebKit is always fun.

[deelowe]

Correction:

* Nintendo Switch is running software from the FreeBSD Kernel

[g0xA52A2A]

Title is misleading, it's not confirmed that Switch runs a FreeBSD base OS yet.

[nicolaslem]

Which brings an interesting question, what are the techniques to get to know what OS a system uses? I know nmap can send specially crafted packets to get a fingerprint of the networking stack. Is there something else?

[clort → nicolaslem]

You can dump the disks, ROM, or firmware updates and look for known strings.

[Jasper_]

Did they confuse "Free BSD Kernel" and zlib? Jean-loup Gally and Mark Adler are the zlib authors, and don't really have anything to do with FreeBSD.

[pbhjpbhj]

Reading the comments I'm now thinking it would be awesome to have a Switch and access my few Steam games (they run on a low powered comp) on there.

[smellf → pbhjpbhj]

Do what? Are you saying the Switch has a Steam client?

[pbhjpbhj → smellf]

Nah, someone was just speculating about hacking/cracking it and installing the linux steam client. Sorry to get your hopes up.

[saintdev → pbhjpbhj]

Honest question, how did they expect this to work? There is no Steam client for ARM and even if there was, there are no ARM games on Steam anyway.

[cma → pbhjpbhj]

Does Steam for linux work on ARM?

[brador]

Isn't it a reskin of Android?

[jamesgeck0 → brador]

That's been speculated, but there's no evidence for it. It uses a very similar chipset to Nvidia's Android-based Shield, which is where the rumor comes from.

[johnsmith21006 → brador]

More likely reskin Android than BSD. Minimum Linux kernel.

[johnsmith21006]

I do not think based on FreeBSD. Most likely Linux kernel and decent chance Android.