# The Ninetendo Switch runs FreeBSD



## drhowarddrfine (Dec 9, 2019)

At least I always thought it did. If I'm not wrong, someone needs to go here and tell those guys along with the person referred to in the link that the thread is about.

I would but HN hates it when people tell the truth and I'm locked out.


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## Phishfry (Dec 9, 2019)

HN is a wonderful place to learn.
The comments section is something out of Mad Max.
I have been downvoted so many times. Sometimes for just pointing out someones fallacy. I use links and try to be nice.
It don't help.
I do feel much more informed because of the site. It really seems like a better version of Slashdot with less sensationalism.


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## shkhln (Dec 10, 2019)

> The Ninetendo Switch runs FreeBSD



It doesn't.


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## Deleted member 30996 (Dec 10, 2019)

PlayStation4 does. The operating system is Orbis OS, based on FreeBSD 9.




> According to the Nintendo Switch system software's licensing information, code from FreeBSD kernel is utilized by Horizon.



Nintendo Switch system software


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## drhowarddrfine (Dec 10, 2019)

shkhln said:


> It doesn't.


Yes it does


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## shkhln (Dec 10, 2019)

No, it doesn't.


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## SirDice (Dec 10, 2019)

As far as is known now it's not _based_ on FreeBSD but they do appear to have used _parts_ of FreeBSD.









						What hackers know of the Nintendo Switch so far - Wololo.net
					

There’s been a lot of speculation about the possibilities to hack the Nintendo Switch already. With the device in the hands of hackers for just a small week, it’s unlikely that any group has...



					wololo.net
				




Similarly, the MacOS kernel XNU is not _based_ on the FreeBSD kernel, it's based on the Mach kernel and has some FreeBSD parts attached to it.


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## drhowarddrfine (Dec 10, 2019)

From Wikipedia:


> They found that the operating system's internal name is Horizon...
> According to the Nintendo Switch system software's licensing information, code from FreeBSD kernel is utilized by Horizon.



Essentially as linked to by SirDice with one essential point. The "parts of FreeBSD" they use are from the kernel.


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## tingo (Dec 10, 2019)

So, anything using say, the networking stack (or parts of it) from BSD (think Berkeley ...) can be said to be a BSD-based unix system? Sheesh, people, get a grip on reality.


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## drhowarddrfine (Dec 11, 2019)

tingo That is not the case here.

I always find it amazing when a positive piece comes out on FreeBSD, users on this forum are the first to jump on a bandwagon to diss it and find any possible way to make it not true. In this case, Switch contains significant parts of the FreeBSD kernel and Nintendo says that statement is true.


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## shkhln (Dec 11, 2019)

drhowarddrfine said:


> users on this forum are the first to jump on a bandwagon to diss it and find any possible way to make it not true.



You are imagining things. This forum is infested with mindless fanboy cheerleading as much as any other place and that is precisely why I don't like this thread. I won't even bother trying to explain why a microkernel OS with video drivers running in userspace can't be a straightforward FreeBSD derivative, it all falls on deaf ears.



drhowarddrfine said:


> In this case, Switch contains significant parts of the FreeBSD kernel and Nintendo says that statement is true.



This is a considerably weaker statement compared to what you started this thread with.


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## drhowarddrfine (Dec 11, 2019)

shkhln Then you should please show what operating system Switch uses instead of just saying "no it isn't" because, so far, no one has said anything that says otherwise. Ninetendo's statement about their own product should be good enough.


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## shkhln (Dec 11, 2019)

Read the Wikipedia page you have linked earlier, it has references.



drhowarddrfine said:


> Ninetendo's statement about their own product should be good enough.



There are no statements from Nintendo. They never talk about technical details.


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## sidetone (Oct 21, 2020)

Eight-ten-do, nine-ten-do, ten-ten-do.
(thread from last year)

If it is, they would be required to disclose it. Considering how the company is, I doubt they would do that. They would say, it's closed software, you can't look, so they can easily get away with not being honest and not disclose it. While it's not our right to verify proprietary software, they should be honest, and it's not their right to use code without the license statement of that opensource code. Even the MIT license requires that disclaimers be with copies of software where its used.

It would be difficult to know, and is a source of controversy.

At least Playstation discloses it according to the required licenses, and doesn't keep everyone guessing.


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## kpedersen (Oct 21, 2020)

YodaNoFear said:


> Pretty interesting



Is there a particular reason you decided to resurrect an ancient thread?

I am all up for necro-posting if after a year something major happens and a thread can be concluded or resumed in a more satisfactory way. However just to provide an observation of how the thread was originally discussed after almost a year doesn't seem like a very good use of time.

In short, you got my hopes up. I thought perhaps the system software source was leaked and we could see exactly how much FreeBSD was in there.


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## shkhln (Oct 22, 2020)

It's a yet another dumb spammer.


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## drhowarddrfine (Oct 22, 2020)

shkhln said:


> It's a yet another dumb spammer.


I've noticed a substantial increase on Stack Overflow the last few days or more. There have been a few here, too, as you seem to notice, too. I wonder why that is.


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## shkhln (Oct 22, 2020)

There unlikely to be any relation. The deleted account was registered roughly 10 months ago and apparently got lucky with a few initial posts.

One interesting spam-related anomaly is located at https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=219399#c274. Other bug tracker issues usually receive a single spam comment, this bug is some kind of spam-magnet. No idea why. Maybe it's linked from some place with high visibility.


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## drhowarddrfine (Oct 22, 2020)

Actually, in a world of AI agents nowadays, I wouldn't be surprised if it is related.


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## SirDice (Oct 22, 2020)

shkhln said:


> The deleted account was registered roughly 10 months ago and apparently got lucky with a few initial posts.


Looks like a common _modus operandi_ these days. They create accounts, post relatively on-topic responses for a while, then come back a few months later and modify all their posts to include spam. Quite difficult to catch them in time as they appear to be "normal" accounts for a while. Make sure to hit that report button if you spot one, so we can clean up the crap.


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## JenniferMorrisonta (Oct 23, 2020)

drhowarddrfine said:


> I've noticed a substantial increase on Stack Overflow the last few days or more. There have been a few here, too, as you seem to notice, too. I wonder why that is.


It is happening to all forums that I'm registered on...


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## shkhln (Oct 23, 2020)

JenniferMorrisonta said:


> It is happening to all forums that I'm registered on...



…because you keep spamming them.


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## Jose (Oct 24, 2020)

SirDice said:


> Looks like a common _modus operandi_ these days. They create accounts, post relatively on-topic responses for a while, then come back a few months later and modify all their posts to include spam. Quite difficult to catch them in time as they appear to be "normal" accounts for a while. Make sure to hit that report button if you spot one, so we can clean up the crap.


One of the things I've noticed here is they tend to only post on threads that have a lot of views. Our Yoda friend only posted on threads that had 600 views or more.


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