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The modder, who writes that “Nintendo went in a proprietary direction (as they so often do),” decided to modify the hub’s firmware to make a working travel dock, as Nintendo’s official dock can be bulky. Unlocking the additional functionality did not come with a noticeable cost, as the hub “still works normally with my PC and my phone.” Grabbing an off-the-shelf USB-C hub and turning it into something more is quite the trick.
The stock hub has no problem charging the console, but it shows no picture, even though it negotiates both power and DisplayPort Alt Mode. Capturing the official Switch 2 dock’s traffic with a USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) sniffer, the modder found that it advertises two Standard or Vendor IDs: one for DisplayPort and one for Nintendo’s own mode.
The console enters Nintendo’s mode first, then DisplayPort, and, once DisplayPort is configured, it sends Nintendo’s vendor messages. This is the exchange of proprietary messages for negotiation, although the company told us last year that it “does not have any intention to hinder or invalidate legal third-party dock compatibility.”
The modification only required adding about 540 bytes to a firmware of just 32 KiB. The Cable Matters 7-in-1 triple display hub, like most, is simply an amalgamation of separate, specialized chips, in this case: a VL103 as the USB-PD controller, a VL817 USB hub chip for the USB ports, an RTD2142 DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport chip for the DisplayPort-to-HDMI function, and XT25F16B flash memory chips. The VL chips are from VIA Labs, the RTD2142 is from Realtek, and the stock hub reports VIA’s vendor ID, which is an identity that needed to be changed for this mod.
Console modder builds working Switch 2 Joy-Cons inside original Wii Remote shells
Nintendo unleashes DMCA takedown wave against open-source Switch modchip firmware, 144 tools disabled
Hands-on with the DockCase Mount Ling 2 Pro
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/nintendo/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/nintendo/hobbyist-turns-usd45-usb-c-hub-into-a-working-nintendo-switch-2-dock-by-patching-its-firmware-consoles-proprietary-handshake-needs-about-540-bytes-of-code-to-answer#main
- https://futureplc.com/privacy-policy/
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.