Xrdesktop 0.14 Released With OpenXR Support

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Xrdesktop 0.14 Released With OpenXR Support

Xrdesktop, the Valve-funded Linux desktop support for VR headsets and making the likes of GNOME and KDE window managers VR-aware, is out with a new release...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Xrdesktop-0.14-Released

[ix900]

Does more than one person care? Do we have two? Can we hear three? Sold to the gentleman in the back!

[numacross]

Does more than one person care? Do we have two? Can we hear three? Sold to the gentleman in the back!

You'll change the tune when 3D holographic displays become ubiquitous and you have a set of mature open source APIs to support it all, just because it was developed for VR doesn't disqualify it in any way

[Remdul]

Does more than one person care? Do we have two? Can we hear three? Sold to the gentleman in the back!

Having intensively tested and used a number of VR headsets for non-entertainment purposes (in mental healthcare), yes; there's tons of serious use for it (now more than ever, example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T2-9MwA5JI). Games are IMO almost irrelevant to VR, other than driving hardware prices down.

It's just that software is lagging behind the hardware. For example, all Oculus based hardware is neutered by locked down and unstable driver/software environment, user unfriendly UI, and ultimately unusable in healthcare due to telemetry/privacy issues (Facebook).

Valve is doing a much better job keeping things open.

[kpedersen]

Valve is doing a much better job keeping things open.

Not at all. Valve has done a massive disservice to the VR community by not providing an open-source implementation of "OpenVR". Their implementation called "SteamVR" is closed source. Not only that but they have also tied it to their consumer Steam platform and all the silly DRM that entails.

The only real "heroes" of VR that I can see is the OpenHMD folk. They have put the effort into reverse engineering the protocols and measuring lenses for the distortion shaders.

Even OpenXR / Monado is using OpenHMD to provide the underlying drivers for a number of hardware.

[Remdul]

I guess the reason SteamVR is closed-source is due to close Steam integration (which itself is undesirable), but Valve has been relatively supportive on open source side of things, and they don't insult the user with dumbed down UIs/configuration like Oculus. They respect their audience. I've worked with tons of OpenVR related code that came straight from Valve, which is actively maintained. Sure, missing is actual driver source of SteamVR itself, but the documentation and API, samples, driver samples have been pretty useful. I build my homebrew Raspberry Pi based VR goggles based on a lot of that info and math code.

But I'm looking forward to OpenHMD/Monado/OpenXR. That too received funding and collaboration from Valve (or individuals working with/at Valve). Perhaps I'm just happy that, at least they don't actively undermine independent initiatives like Facebook, nVidia, Google routinely do.