LWJGL Forum

Programming => Lightweight Java Gaming Library => Topic started by: rupy on March 01, 2017, 00:02:56

Title: LWJGL on Nintendo Switch
Post by: rupy on March 01, 2017, 00:02:56
Just speculating, would that even be possible?

Apparently it supports all OpenGL flavours, also it's just an ARM so Java should work right?

Which linux do they use?

Edit: FreeBSD apparently: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/5xbe5a/the_switch_runs_freebsd_making_it_nintendos_first/?st=izu8u07q&sh=c741a813
Title: Re: LWJGL on Nintendo Switch
Post by: CoDi on March 04, 2017, 16:33:27
Just speculating, would that even be possible?

Apparently it supports all OpenGL flavours, also it's just an ARM so Java should work right?

Information about the SDK are not available yet for us mere mortals, but I wouldn't count on that.

In previous generations, while their graphics API for example had a feature set similar to OpenGL, console people (not only Nintendo) tend to ship their own interfaces. So it's highly unlikely that you can just recompile your favorite bindings (e.g. lwjgl-opengl) and be done with it.

Besides, they tend to be wary of running a VM as powerful as a JRE, one they don't have much control of for security reasons. So even if you manage to get a JVM built and running (same issue as above, the system library APIs are likely to be different), which would be a huge achievement by itself, its possible that they'd simply reject any submission.
Title: Re: LWJGL on Nintendo Switch
Post by: kappa on March 04, 2017, 19:09:58
It appears that the Nintendo Switch might be running FreeBSD (https://twitter.com/Y_Mokko/status/837610472362786817) similar to the PS4.

OpenJDK is available for FreeBSD (https://www.freebsd.org/java/) so theoretically it should be possible with some tinkering to actually get it running on the Switch.

Another thing is the Switch uses an ARM chip so to be useful for gaming any version of OpenJDK running on it will also need support for running a JIT like Hotspots on it instead of something slower like Zero.

Guess best thing would be to get a Switch DevKit to experiment with, which apparently doesn't cost that much (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/292125/Nintendo_Switch_dev_kits_could_run_as_low_as_440.php).