Anyone use a VR headset for dev work? | Hacker News Reader

Anyone use a VR headset for dev work?

5 pointsKhalPanda5 comments

When it comes to development, for me, the more screen real estate, the better/more productive I am (to a point).

I was thinking, rather than a wall of monitors, some VR experience with a virtual desktop (with a screen as big as I want) would be the ultimate solution.

Does anything like this exist? Would it work?

I saw "Virtual Desktop" on Steam, but it just looks like a regular screen output within a VR "space". I suppose the limitation will be the maximum resolution your GPU can output. Has anyone tried/experimented with this?

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Yes - I have a health condition that means I struggle to stay in a sitting position for longer than 4 hours, so I use Oculus Rift and Virtual desktop on the bed, with a split keyboard.

It's "ok" and is quite fiddly to setup with the sensors etc, I'm thinking if replacing the whole thing with a projector,

The hardware is good, it's the software that's lacking, but it's very close!

Anyone with suggestions on alternative setups would be much appreciated!

It's an interesting idea but I don't recommend it with current headset. I work on a VR startup but truthfully speaking the technology isn't ready for everyday use yet.

The current generation of the headset isn't ready for long term use yet, maybe when the next generation of headset come out. Reading text on the current headsets (Oculus/HTC) can give you some serious headaches and eye strain. I'd wait until next generation come out before trying.

Though one thing that VR is really good for is A/B testing designs and visualizing data.

You'd be looking for BigScreen rather than Virtual Desktop for your use-case.

Having said that, echoing other commenters - the resolution isn't there yet. Maybe have a look at the just-announced 8k headset - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pimax8kvr/pimax-the-wor... - which claims better text definition.

A bit of a hack, but I came across this a while back:

http://www.deepelement.com/article/gearvr-remote-desktop

I tried, I couldn't see any text at all.

I used oculus dk2, the resolution is too low for any serious work.

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