Trying The SteamVR Beta On Linux Feels More Like An Early Alpha

[starshipeleven]

Yeah, this will never become mainstream. It's this decade's VR push, but it will fade away like 3D TVs.

Ok for "never becoming mainstream", but VR has its own niche just as high-end gaming GPUs (it's not like GTX 1080 is exactly mainstream either).

3D TV has always been DOA as it was obvious that content providers prefer shipping more crap in 720p even now than trying to figure out how to use new technology.

[roothorick]

It's a pretty solid piece of glass, but more concerned about knocking into computer parts on said table or knocking over a beverage and things like that while having the VR HMD on... I think I am going to limit the "play area" to more of an unused corner of the space, now that I know more about space requirements and the base stations, etc.

That's the whole point of the chaperone, and why it's so important to do room setup correctly. That said, a common newbie mistake is not giving the chaperone the respect it deserves, especially keeping the controllers inside the bounds. It's all too easy to swing a sword at something with arm extended, inadvertently moving your hand out of the grid, and clocking your knuckle on a table. Know your limits

Yeah, this will never become mainstream. It's this decade's VR push, but it will fade away like 3D TVs.

This time is a little different. Advances in tracking technology, and more importantly the new approach of accommodating the limitations of the format at a game design level instead of trying to shoehorn existing designs and paradigms into the format, have finally given it staying power among a certain niche. It's going to take a long time and serious technological advances to make it inexpensive and convenient enough for the mainstream, but the ball has finally gotten rolling for real.

[Otus]

Once they get it stable and there is a compelling game or two, I'm probably buying. Although at that point it may be time to wait for next gen devices...

It is nothing like 3DTV, which is a gimmick. Both head tracking and especially tracked controllers make a huge difference in immersion.

[schmidtbag]

SteamVR is relatively unstable on Windows too, so not much surprise Linux support is so crappy. I'm using an OSVR, so if Valve's own hardware struggles to work, I think I'll hold off any attempts of my own.

[ParticleBoard]

I have a vive and decided to give steamvr a try right when it came out. Can confirm the hours of screwing with and the seemingly random and endless crashes. When it does randomly load it works good. Room setup worked, crashed at the end taking everything with it. Destinations worked pretty good until it froze loading a new scene.

Can't really complain though, I'm just glad valve gave us the opportunity to screw with it at such an early stage.

[L_A_G]

It's definitely nice to see SteamVR on Linux coming along.

Finally went trough and ordered a new CPU (Ryzen 1700) and motherboard to replace the old warhorse (i7 950) I had originally planned to replace long ago so should now have my system up to snuff for a VR headset. Maybe next summer or Christmas when the next set of headsets from Occulus and HTC come out will be the time to pull the trigger on one?

[emblemparade]

Exciting to hear that it's working! I've tried to set it up myself, but chickened out when it involved installing the NVIDIA beta driver ...

[Ardje]

Valve does a great job. You can actually find people from valve helping and debugging at #vronlinux.
I think the HMD market for linux users might actually be larger than windows users, as a lot more research and development is done on linux only. The first VR window manager of course worked only on linux/unix. And only after having seen that Microsoft came with something similar.
My primary goal for HMD usage would be coding on a virtual screen, but alas, the resolution of the HMD's are still to low. So I am glad VR is being pushed by Samsung and Valve (not oculus, as oculus seems to want to destroy it with their lock in), which makes a future of high-res cheap HMD's possible. Or even good augmented HMD's, but valve has kicked that project out of Valve, with a bag of money though.

[moilami]

Ok, so, my wallet will open to this between 2018 and 2020.

[devius]

Ok for "never becoming mainstream", but VR has its own niche just as high-end gaming GPUs (it's not like GTX 1080 is exactly mainstream either).

So far there have been about 1,6million VR headsets sold combining the sales of Rift, Vive and PSVR. That's lifetime sales of these devices. In Q4'16 alone there were approximately 1,5million enthusiast graphics card sales according to this. Yeah, I don't think VR is going anywhere. It will probably find a comfortable niche in professional visualization applications, but that's it. Probably... who knows?

3D TV has always been DOA as it was obvious that content providers prefer shipping more crap in 720p even now than trying to figure out how to use new technology.

Same thing can be said for VR. In fact, 3D TVs also required attaching a device to your head to enjoy the benefits. It didn't "just work". That's even worse than no content.

This time is a little different.

Someone says that every time. I don't think it is. The price has come down a lot compared to what it was in the 90's though. Maybe when they try again next time in 20 years the technology will actually be available to make it less awkward and more affordable.

It is nothing like 3DTV, which is a gimmick. Both head tracking and especially tracked controllers make a huge difference in immersion.

Both of which already existed in 1991.

I'd really like for this to succeed, because the possibilities are very cool, but it won't. Not this time. This VR thing must work without having to attach a humongous device to your head riddled with cables connected to a bunch of sensors and controller boxes and gizmos that are hard to setup and require a certain amount of free space to work properly.