AMS vs SX⌗

There are actual cavemen still using SX OS, so why? Is there an actual benefit to SX OS? How bearable is being stuck on lower firmwares forever? And why does everyone critical of it claim it’s users are lazy external hard drive users? Let’s find out

Firmware support?⌗

Atmosphere: latest firmware (actively maintained)

SX OS: 11.0.1 (with community patches)

Atmosphere clearly beats SX OS here, no questions asked.

How bearable is being on 11.0.1 forever?⌗

Well the users of SX OS are unlikely to move away from it any time soon that’s for sure, a tool called switch army knife can patch their XCI files to run on lower firmwares than they’re meant to, along with convert NSP files to XCI files and pack in DLCs and updates, allowing them to make super XCI files with ease.

XCI files?⌗

XCI files are game cartridge dumps, SX OS has a feature to mount them as if they were game cartridges.

Super XCI files are XCI files with all of the DLCs and updates for a game packed into them. The pirates’ favourite files.

XCI mounting?⌗

Atmosphere: never (devs actively reject the idea)

SX OS: present (devs endorse piracy lmao)

Every person who actually wants XCI dumping as a feature of Atmosphere has absolutely no idea how to code it in, which brings me onto my next point

‘Lazy external-hdd XCI mounters’⌗

Basically a phrase to describe people who still use SX OS for the sole reason it lets them mount XCI files from external hard drives. Honestly I can’t blame them really, a 1tb external hard drive costs way less than a 1tb sd card and your odds of being scammed on one are a lot lower.

Unsigned code?⌗

Atmosphere: partially (through the homebrew menu for NRO files and through sigpatches for NSP files)

SX OS: present (devs endorse piracy lmao)

Sigpatches?⌗

Basically patches to Atmosphere to allow it to run unsigned NSP files. Simple enough.

Homebrew support⌗

Atmosphere: a lot (a lot of homebrew is designed to work with it out of the box)

SX OS: lacking (only some homebrew still officially supports SX OS)

In conclusion⌗

SX OS may be obsolete by literally any metric, but it has features Atmosphere will never have, such as out-of-the-box support for unsigned NSPs or XCI mounting. It’s support for external hard drives is also a huge pull factor, as it’s easier to find cheap 1tb hard drives than it is 1tb micro sd cards without getting scammed.

Overall I do not recommend SX OS, as Atmosphere has support from devs that aren’t being fined 10 million dollars and having 30% of their earnings garnished by Nintendo for the rest of their lives, but people already using SX OS have a lot of reasons to stay and I cannot deny that.

Enjoy the post and I’ll see you next time.