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Comment by GekkePrutser | Hacker News Reader

Looks like a great idea, I love the idea of a VR desktop without the actual 'Desktop'. The desktop paradigm just makes no sense in VR, it would be much nicer to have all windows free floating. One of the things I don't get though, why is there a waitlist for software?

Edit: Ahh, they are making a headset too.

I think that's not a smart business decision IMO. There's many companies with big financial reserves and lots of experience with hardware doing just that already. They can afford to deep-discount to gain marketshare (like I'm pretty sure Meta does with the Quest). While the software side (VR desktops!) is hardly explored at all. There's also much less barriers to get into that, no production setup, no supply chain...

I wish them well of course :D Just don't know if this is the best idea... The time for garage-startup hardware for VR was when Palmer Luckey did his kickstarter.

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> I think that's not a smart business decision IMO.

They literally have to make their own hardware. The only VR hardware that supports Linux officially is the Valve Index and the HTV Vive line. Everything else barely functions, with the only hope being from community efforts (which are not stable experiences yet at all, far from it). The Index and the Vive aren't suitable for people that just want to use this software, because they're expensive and bulky.

> The Index and the Vive aren't suitable for people that just want to use this software, because they're expensive and bulky.

But the headset they're proposing is twice the price of those :)

Sure, it has better resolution but not that much better. And it'll be a really tough sell, competing with the big vendors and targeting a niche platform. I would see more in developing a software layer like Virtual Desktop does for Windows on the Oculus ecosystem. Really innovate with the concept of PC usage in VR (simulating touch, floating windows etc). And then aiming for an acquisition or something.

But anyway I'm not an entrepreneur (and never would wish to be one!) so don't take my word for it. It just struck me as odd. Hardware is hard if you're not geared for it and particularly hard in the current supply-constrained times where the big vendors buy up everything they see. They'll be fighting for scraps at highly volatile prices.

This is correct. We tried for months to convince headset manufacturers to support Linux so that we could run Simula on them, but to no avail.

Agreed it's definitely stressful from a financial/business standpoint (hardware is really tough), and unfortunately the first iteration of our headset will be really expensive (since we have no leverage to bring unit costs down from our suppliers).

That being said: https://imgur.com/RMktWuj.png

Oculus Go is running Android, now that they let you get root on it, should be possible to run any Linux distro on it.

The Go is not very useful though. It lacks 6DOF tracking, controllers etc. It's just a glorified google cardboard :)

> The desktop paradigm ... in VR

You have to deal with resolution as an issue. So you may want to use flat surfaces, position fixed with the eyes, to get the crispest vision when working on an item, and reserve things like space navigation to item navigation only.

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