>Why do you think that VR requires Linux support to succeed?

I never said it does. I simply expect companies to uphold the promises they make, especially the promises they make to Kickstarter backers - many of whom would never have bought into the Oculus Rift if they know Oculus would break their promises on Linux - what use is backing hardware you can't use when it comes out?

> Why do you think that VR requires Linux support to succeed?

Virtual Reality systems need to support Linux because they need to be built around Free Software: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-even-more-impor...

It is essential that we as computer programmers work towards making virtual reality systems respect people's freedom.

This is a problem of basic ethics and morality. You can say "I don't care" all you want and buy into the proprietary systems, that just means you are literally paying money to build out the surveillance police state infrastructure.

HTC Vive supports the OpenVR "standard" - and I believe the HMD from Razer (yep, they make one - yet you never hear a peep about it) is the same.

The Rift doesn't have Linux support (anymore - the original DK1 did), and probably never will. There are some 3rd party reverse-engineered drivers for it, but they are limited in only allowing for the display to turn on, and view the output, plus a couple of other minor things. Tracking isn't supported, from what I recall.

For what its worth, I'm not even sure whether the Vive or the Razer offering even fully supports Linux; oftentimes you see things like "support for openwidget" actually meaning "Windows and Mac version of openwidget only".

The best way to get Linux HMD/VR support is the old-school, homebrew PC VR way (you know, the way Palmer did it before Occulus) - hack it yourself.

Oculus stopped Linux support with this blog post: https://www3.oculus.com/en-us/blog/powering-the-rift/

Their Linux support sucked anyway. They only got their unity plugin working on Linux actually one day before they published this blog post. They never supported unreal engine on linux even though they said they were working on it before the DK2 even came out.

A Valve rep has said in an interview before the Vive release that they intended to have Linux support on launch. The preorders showed SteamOS support, but they changed it right before the actual launch: https://i.imgur.com/MA2377D.png

Valve has given a demonstration with SteamVR on Linux, but they have yet to release anything to the public.

The OSVR SDK and the OSVR HDK2 work on Linux. But only with their core SDK. Their unity plugin and their unreal engine plugin still do not work on Linux. So far I haven't found an application with OSVR SDK support that works on linux.