Steam Frame for non-gamers?
Posted by martin_xs6@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 149 comments
With the new VR headset from Valve shipping with linux, I'm interested in using it as the ultimate hackable head mounted display. Aside from playing games well, what do you guys want to see from this device? Any ideas for interesting uses of it?
Some of what we'll be able to do depends on what Valve is planning on providing.
1. Do we get desktop mode like we do with the steam deck? If so, is it a full VR window manager, or do we just get a screen with a virtual monitor? Might be cool to bring a Bluetooth keyboard + the headset on a plane and recreate my multi-monitor setup at home (albeit with large text)
2. What's going to be provided on the front expansion port? An article I read said it "offers a dual 2.5Gbps MIPI camera interface and also supports a one-lane Gen 4 PCIe data port for other peripherals." Presumeably there can be add on boards to provide USB or anything else you can use a PCIe lane for. Maybe I can replace my fpv drone goggles, or add full color AR passthrough.
Annual-Advisor-7916@reddit
It's early to say, but the options of expansion boards, camera interfaces, etc are looking damn well thought out. Maybe it's just me, but it seems rather small too.
Valve releasing that means more development for VR on Linux too.
It's probably not for me, but I'm happy for it to exist.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
I agree, but I wish it had a few fast USB ports somewhere. I think there's just one usb-c port with USB 2.0. The way they have it, you'll have to buy some expansion cards for it. Still cool though!
I might get it. Depends how easy the linux part is and how much it costs. Maybe I'll wait for a used one.
jameson71@reddit
How hard did they have to look to find that abomination?
Fr0gm4n@reddit
The official USB-C spec only requires 5v@3A power and USB 2.0 data. People just assume faster USB because it's common.
jameson71@reddit
ThatsTheJoke.jpg
Like you said, it is way more common that a usb-c would be 3.0 which is why I am wondering why they put that cheap piece of junk in this thing they haven't even released yet.
Annual-Advisor-7916@reddit
Why? Because they had no bandwidth left. You know, after all everything needs CPU lanes...
Seems like they decided to just expose the PCIE lane and use the USB-C mostly for charging and debugging. It seems weird but it makes sense.
yreun@reddit
I wonder what is actually using the USB3.0 lane on the SoC because as far as I can tell there nothing should be using it? It might just be USB 2.0 due to signal integrity issues?
The 8 Gen 3 has three PCIe lanes, two are primarily used for WiFi and then there's an extra PCIe (probably the one exposed). Then there's 6 MIPI CSI connections for cameras, so you don't need to worry about using USB for that. Audio also has its own dedicated MIPI SoundWire lanes. And the SD card slot also has a dedicated serial lane.
I can't really think of anything else that's wired up on the headset that'd use USB3.0
The source for the above comes from a chinese hardware forum that's seemingly currently offline, you can search for SM8650 and find the datasheet when it comes back online.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
You're probably right. It doesn't help that it's a mobile CPU either. I'll bet it has a lot less I/O compared to a desktop or laptop one.
jameson71@reddit
That's what I figured it was mostly for charging and not data transfer. In that case it makes sense and the "usb 2.0" is pretty much irrelevant. May as well have said "it charges over usb-c."
centipedewhereabouts@reddit
That is quite literally the opposite of what they said.
jameson71@reddit
No, it isn’t.
Reading is hard.
Saragon4005@reddit
You take a USB 2.0 4 pin header and solder a USB-C connector to it. It's that simple.
__ali1234__@reddit
It's not quite that simple if you want charging to work correctly, as Raspberry Pi found out with the RPi 4.
Saragon4005@reddit
USB 2.0 doesn't do charging now does it.
__ali1234__@reddit
USB C does though. If the USB C port is also the charging port for the device, then doing as you suggest will prevent it being charged by some USB C chargers.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
Lol, ikr. There are so many better things to do with a usb c connector.
Annual-Advisor-7916@reddit
You are right, more ports are always nice for tinkering, but the PCIE lane itself is a gift imo. Unless they have whitelisted devices, you can make anything work there. Bandwidth wouldn't be a problem at all. I can totally see open source modules popping up very soon.
The MIPI port is interesting, the bandwidth is impressive..
Are you sure that the USB-C port is 2.0? That's a weird choice.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
I also thought 2.0 was a weird choice, but the chart here shows it's 2.0. https://www.uploadvr.com/valve-steam-frame-official-announcement-features-details/
I doubt they'd whitelist devices, but we'll see. Everything else they've made has been super open. And you're right, I shouldn't complain. We're lucky we get any expansion at all!
Annual-Advisor-7916@reddit
I think they just decided to expose a full PCI-E lane instead of using part of it for USB 3.x and making the thing needlessly more complex.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
You're probably right. This is also a mobile processor, so I bet there are less peripherals available compared to a desktop or laptop cpu.
RobotechRicky@reddit
Can I use this to set up multiple virtual monitors? Or one HUGE monitor. I'm thinking about for work with multiple apps open and stuff.
non-existing-person@reddit
I can bet this will be very open - just like Steam Deck. You will be able to put Gentoo on it if that's your wish. Steam invests in product not useless security measures so you don't - god forbid - use their devices AS YOU WISH. People will immediately get kernel for that + device tree from steamos so you will be able to run any Linux with anything on it. That's the beauty of Steam hardware. This will be YOUR device, and Steam knows it, and supports that all the way.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
I agree, but I wonder about the VR specific parts. Not sure if there'll be drivers + support for head tracking, eye tracking and the displays available on other platforms, which kind of defeats the purpose.
non-existing-person@reddit
Hackers should be able to extract kernel modules for those. If there will be no source code available then all custom software will be locked to specific Kernel (that is bundled with steamos for VR) so that those modules can work. But other than that, you will be able to bake your own userspace programs.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
If that happens, I'd be very tempted to switch off of steamos. On the deck it's definitely nice to have desktop mode, but I found doing dev work on it to be a bit awkward because of package availability and some other annoyances. That was a while ago though. Could be it's better now, and it's still way better than any other handheld I've seen.
non-existing-person@reddit
How so? SteamOS is just Arch. And you have root. Just prune the system from anything you don't want, install your packages - if they don't exist, install from AUR, configure it to your workflow. This should give you practically same result as installing other distro from scratch. I know it may feel "dirty" ;) but it will be just as good.
FattyDrake@reddit
SteamOS is an immutable Arch distro. pacman and AUR don't really work. So you'd have to do a regular Arch install.
Massive_Town_8212@reddit
you can remove the immutability by inputting "sudo steamos-readonly disable" and "pacman-key --init && pacman-key --populate holo"
After that it's a normal Arch install. It resets the readonly and the keys after an update, but you could just put those two lines into a bash script that runs on startup.
Indolent_Bard@reddit
That doesn't work because updates will undo everything that you did, though. At least that's what I've heard.
Massive_Town_8212@reddit
As someone who's actually done this, no. The update only redoes the steamos-readonly enable command and clears the private keys. It's a bit of a pain, but workable. It also doesn't really happen on hotfixes, but does seem to happen going from like 3.6 -> 3.7 for example. A script that runs on startup would make it a permanent non-issue unless some part of the system broke those commands
It kept all my packages and everything inside all directories. There's no need to be concerned that the project at the root of the home folder will disappear. Any problems I've had with it, I've had with AUR, flatpak versions, and all the other normal Linux problems.
I wish Steam would actually release HoloISO and have people without their systems actually try it. Enough rounds of telephone and SteamOS will get the reputation of being more locked down than Red Star.
Indolent_Bard@reddit
They technically DID release it, it's just that it's mostly made for handhelds.
signedchar@reddit
Use Distrobox
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
One of the issues was ffmpeg and gstreamer didn't use hardware acceleration. I have a DJI Tello that you can setup to stream h264 frames over UDP packets, and the steam deck couldn't keep up. Of course, I could probably have compiled ffmpeg from source and figured out how to get the decoders working, but I also could just use my PC, or ssh into it from my phone.
Part of the problem is that I also wanted to use it as a gaming device. Whenever it updated I'd have to redo a bunch of stuff. IIRC updates caused some partitions to be changed to read-only and erased everything I had set up. I could probably make an install script to redo everything, but its not that good of a form factor for that kind of work anyway.
All that to say, I should try again and see if it works better now.
non-existing-person@reddit
Ok, that makes sense then. In that case you could just install Arch on SD, then only copy kernel and modules. That way you will have all drivers but your own userspace.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
That's a good idea, actually, except maybe I'd use the drive for chroot or something. I have a 64GB deck so I was using the card slot for games, but I replaced the SSD with a 1TB one and the card slot is even free for this kind of thing.
I think you've convinced me to try again when I have some free time.
non-existing-person@reddit
Hah, by SD i meant Steam Deck, not SD card xD. Yeah, I meant to install vanilla Arch on steam deck, THEN copy kernel +
/lib/modules/$steam_deck_kernel_versiononto you vanilla Arch and boot it. I believe this will work.martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
Oooh. That makes more sense, haha. I was confused for a second.
CrazyKilla15@reddit
Its not "just" Arch, its semi-immutable and focused on flatpaks
Something like distrobox or some other container in one of the mutable parts would work better, or just using a different distro.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
One of the issues was ffmpeg and gstreamer didn't use hardware acceleration. I have a DJI Tello that you can setup to stream h264 frames over UDP packets, and the steam deck couldn't keep up. Of course, I could probably have compiled ffmpeg from source and figured out how to get the decoders working, but I also could just use my PC, or ssh into it from my phone.
Part of the problem is that I also wanted to use it as a gaming device. Whenever it updated I'd have to redo a bunch of stuff. IIRC updates caused some partitions to be changed to read-only and erased everything I had set up. I could probably make an install script to redo everything, but its not that good of a form factor for that kind of work anyway.
All that to say, I should try again and see if it works better now.
Jarcode@reddit
Valve doesn't write proprietary Linux drivers (judging on their past work), so everything VR-specific is likely going to be released along with their kernel fork. Give it a month or two and you might see it merged upstream as well.
Anyone using a relatively up to date Linux distro has been enjoying Valve's contributions whether they know it or not!
noAnimalsWereHarmed@reddit
When valve came out with Steam VR, it was open to all headsets, so vr had a better chance of success. I’ve not heard anything to suggest they’ve changed their mind.
rebbsitor@reddit
This is why we need Valve to do a smartphone too sometime.
ComprehensiveYak4399@reddit
a linux phone with proper android runtime and HALs implemented instead of a whole android container? im rock hard
Indolent_Bard@reddit
Yo, that would be absolutely amazing.
avetenebrae@reddit
I mean, now that they have x86 compatibility running on ARM.. We can dream, especially with the Xperia Play patent expired 👀
DHermit@reddit
I watched the Tested review earlier and the guy from Steam literally told that they want people to do with it whatever they want.
nialv7@reddit
Don't even need to do that. I think they have been upstreaming the drivers, the device tree and stuff.
deviled-tux@reddit
Brother we are going to live in the new era of Linux VR
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
Right? Can't wait for a Linux VR window manager and whatever else people cook up.
fatfuckindoinkers@reddit
VR window management is going to be insane
perkited@reddit
The day for Eagle Mode has finally come.
Saragon4005@reddit
I love how you can tell this is X because of the screen tearing.
Vladislav20007@reddit
this was made 14 years ago, might just be low-end hardware.
d32dasd@reddit
it's definitely X and not Wayland. Hence the tearing, and being old.
Vladislav20007@reddit
and
kill-the-maFIA@reddit
You don't get tearing on Wayland, even on low end hardware.
Vladislav20007@reddit
i had it before, wayland isn't flawless.
Evla03@reddit
lagging sure, but it does vsync by default so there's no tearing
TRKlausss@reddit
I got RSI on my Index from imagining all the scrolling for zooming…
lazystingray@reddit
Ah Eagle Mode, AKA Microfiche ...
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
Man that fullscreen view would be a vomit factory in vr.
perkited@reddit
If you've gotta spew you can at least direct it on /dev/null.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
And this is why I come to r/Linux
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
I just want something like the vision pro has where you start your applications and you can leave the windows around physical places.
3d printer status window? I'll put that by the 3d printer. 12x monitors for work stuff? By the desk. Youtube app? Bathroom wall.
pervertsage@reddit
It'd be a pain in the arse sitting down for a shit only to realise I'd left my Reddit window in the kitchen.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
Hahaha. Maybe you need a gesture to summon all windows to you and you can pick which one you want to grab to keep where you are?
Stutz-Jr@reddit
Lawnmower man: access denied
headedbranch225@reddit
Well Wayland should let you do that, and actually arrange windows in 3d space, I am pretty sure there is already a proof of concept
Mongertaja@reddit
The folks at Simula developed one based on godot for their VR headset PC. https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
Thanks for sharing. I like that they're trying to address the text problem too. I think that's one of the main issues with using headsets for real work. You have to make the screens huge to be able to read the text.
boomerangchampion@reddit
I'm going to recreate that fly-through Silicon Graphics UI from Jurassic Park so I can use it in VR and give myself incredible nausea
LeftelfinX@reddit
Finaly i can use a vr headset as my coding monitor and fit all the long java classes in a whole line.
Rare_Needleworker571@reddit
Just wow. This inspired a project, thanks!
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
But what project? You can't just tease us with that and not tell!
Rare_Needleworker571@reddit
CyberSec glasses
lamurian@reddit
I'd love to use it as my primary monitor. Imagine logging in to your home server, then run the X11 and stream it right into the VR without needing other monitors. That'd be neat.
sDiBer@reddit
I'm really hoping for HDMI in (most likely as a mod, I doubt it'll be supported officially).
My Xreal glasses are awesome for watching movies on a plain because I can run Netflix on my phone and output it to the glasses. I'd love to see the Frame tackle that use case.
RoxyAndBlackie128@reddit
On a what?
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
Someone might be able to make a module for that front expansion port to do it. So a mod, but maybe not too intrusive. I'd love to have HDMI in as well.
gtd_rad@reddit
I do model based design and often gave to look at a lot of different screens / terminals / graphs all at once. I'm stuck with just a 34" and it's very inconvenient. I want to have a headset with a shit ton of monitors I can just pan my head around in a VR headset. But I know the resolution is going to be a major limitations.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
You should get more monitors! I have one nice one for games and stuff and then a bunch of free/cheap old monitors I got from randos around my city. They're ugly and weird resolutions, but it's nice for looking at documentation and whatever else (I'm an electrical/software engineer).
But I'm totally with you about the headset. I would love to be able to just bring a headset and work with the same setup I have at home. Long term, I think I'd want AR glasses (less weird in coffee shops and stuff) instead of something like the Frame, but beggars can't be choosers.
gtd_rad@reddit
Yea I almost regret selling off my dual monitor strut arms a while back. I think it was the best experience I've had.
I've also tried AR glasses like the Rokid Max but the experience honestly wasn't all that great. They have some new models since so I dunno if it's been improved or not.
1ElectricHaskeller@reddit
I just hope it's comfortable enough to wear all day long. If so, heck yeah I'm going to go all in on virtual multimonitor setups
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
Yeah, we'll have to see what people think once it's released. I've worn the original vive for a few hours at a time and it was okaay. This one has better balance and weighs less overall, so maybe it'll be fine?
BeeInABlanket@reddit
It's a bit gaming-adjacent, but I'd be interested to see what the headset might do for the vtuber scene, and how well the ecosystem might interact with other hardware like Sony's Mocopi trackers.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
Yeah, that's one outstanding question. Before they had full body tracking with the Vive Trackers and lighthouses, but those are being discontinued.
benhaube@reddit
I thought it was Android, not Linux?
Anyway, I can't do any VR headsets. I get nauseous in less than 5 minutes, and a splitting headache after 10 minutes. The reason VR hasn't taken off, besides being expensive, is that about half the people that try it have the same problem as I do.
CrazyKilla15@reddit
Depending on how many VR headsets you've tried, I suspect at least one current one would work for you. But thats really highlights the issue, right now tolerance depends a lot on the individual, specific headset, and VR application/game. And its even more expensive to try out a bunch of different headsets to find one that works, nobody is going to do that unless they're really committed to VR, and why would they be if theyve never used it without nausea?
I imagine its similar to how some people are really perceptive of fluorescent and LED light duty cycles, and perceive them as flickering when others dont, even when both people have healthy eyes and vision, or hearing electric AC hum. The body is weird. Those things have improved and gotten less noticeable even for people they used to both.
Its already been happening with VR too, while its still fairly high, nausea has trended down as the tech improves.
jameson71@reddit
Even a game like Battlefield 6 on an oled ultrawide will get me and a lot of people motion sick.
It makes sense, your eyes are getting all the motion signals and your ears are not.
benhaube@reddit
Yeah, I think that is the root of the issue. A similar thing happens to me on an airplane when it is the opposite. The inner ear is feeling the motion while your eyes are not seeing it. I've always had to bring nausea medicine with me on flights.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
It's linux, but it can also run sideloaded android apks (probably with something like waydroid?). I am hoping some of the work they've done with fex to convert x86 to arm will trickle down to android. I'd love steam on android.
Sorry about the nausea! Honestly, I don't get nauseous in VR and have a headset, but don't actually use it that much... so maybe you aren't missing much.
Saragon4005@reddit
There was an official project with Steam on Chrome OS. This was cancelled and is fully ending on new Year's. Coincidentally ChromeOS is supposed to move over to an android kernel around that time. Given the release of Steam frame around this time there may be something there.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
That is a keen observation. Let's hope it's true!
benhaube@reddit
Ahhh okay, that makes sense. I heard you could sideload APKs to it and just assumed it was Android. I didn't look into it any further than that.
iskela45@reddit
Seems like a bit of an exagerration or leaving out details about how the headset is being used.
NikIsHere_@reddit
Android is (to a big degree) linux But the frame will run steamos3 holo iirc
However it being ARM and Linux is also close to android
CrazyKilla15@reddit
Not really. Android is a whole unique ecosystem using the Linux kernel. So its Linux(technical meaning, kernel) but not Linux(common meaning, GNU/Linux, desktop, distro).
Android has its own libc, its own proprietary drivers and hardware, its own userspace and IPC system, all the java, own package managers, a system-wide sandbox that everything runs in, etc. Android is a lot more than just "linux kernel but on ARM", and "linux(distro) but on ARM" doesnt really get close to android.
benhaube@reddit
Yup, when people say "Android is Linux" it makes me cringe because it is really not. Besides using the Linux kernel (an old one at that) there is nothing Linux about it. Android and GNU/Linux distributions are two entirely different operating systems.
NikIsHere_@reddit
Yup but again Linux is the kernel google used the kernel and developed onto it same as gnu
Therefore android at its core is still Linux I don’t really see how that is cringe tbh seems like Ragebait to me
I said Linux btw not gnu so makes no sense what you’re saying
jameson71@reddit
Except GNU came way before the Linux kernel.
"Linux" as it is used today mean the Linux kernel and the GNU userland. This is why we have the word "Android"
NikIsHere_@reddit
Yes you’re completely right I meant as in relative It’s way more similar than say a x86 machine running Linux. But yes you’re right
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
It's so close. I'm hoping for a steam on android announcement at some point. I'd love to be able to play my old pc games on my phone. The processor in the frame is even in a bunch of phones.
Independent_Cup7132@reddit
Valve's commitment to open hardware makes this exciting for Linux enthusiasts beyond gaming. The potential for VR development and custom applications is impressive.
Albos_Mum@reddit
*bolts 9070XT to face*
Denis-96@reddit
since it is steam os then i guess it is inevitable that you would be able to get a desktop mode.
hurtfulthingsourway@reddit
I hope flatpak gets VR apps soon'ish.
IC3P3@reddit
> Aside from playing games well, what do you guys want to see from this device
I still have my hope up for something feeling as polished as Meta Horizon Workspace. From my experience Immersed is the one closest, but still far from it.
> What's going to be provided on the front expansion port?
One thing that would be needed would be color passthrough of course
japzone@reddit
rewgs@reddit
I hope I can use this as my ultimate Vision Pro for programming/productivity.
theillustratedlife@reddit
The Adam Savage interview on YouTube says that Desktop Mode is just a window that pops up in VR space, and you can render it at whatever resolution you want.
CaptionAdam@reddit
If they can keep it at that ~$700cad like the meta quest 3 I'm gonna buy one in a heartbeat.
I've wanted to get into VR, but the only real affordable headsets that would work for me require a Facebook account.
There's a guy in a couple of my classes who uses a pair of screen glasses(I know it's not what they're called), with his phone and a bluetooth keyboard and mouse for note taking in class. The ability to do something like that would be amazing!
Not to mention stuff like writing code, working in CAD, or watching movies when away from a desk. I can't forget about the possibility of using it as a thin client for my tower.
It's pretty much guaranteed I'm gonna buy one. I want to use it for more than just gaming, plus practical uses make it more easy to justify the purchase.
IlIIllIIIlllIlIlI@reddit
The guy in one of the interviews said it will be running inside SteamVR so the "desktop mode" will be a window you can open and resize
Its basically nested desktop from steam deck
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
O nice! Do you remember where you saw it? I watched some of the interviews but haven't seen this one.
And I'm happy with that. Hopefully they let you add as many desktops as you want!
FluffyWarHampster@reddit
Valve point blank told us that since its ARM based its going to support side loading apk files through an emulation layer in steamOS so in theory anything you could run on an android you could play with on this.
IlIIllIIIlllIlIlI@reddit
Has nothing to do with it being arm. You can run android apps on most linux systems
sDiBer@reddit
Yes and no. A lot of Android apps require Google Play Services and Google Play Integrity. You might be able to install those services (or a workaround like MicroG), but I doubt the Play Integrity checks would pass.
Anything that requires thorough system validation probably wouldn't work. Banking apps are typically the toughest example of this, but that's not really relevant here. I am nervous that streaming apps might also not work. And any games that require monetization via Google play might be harder to get running as well.
Aperture_Kubi@reddit
On desktop mode, I wonder how that'll work with a "non-traditional 2d" screen. Also I think I saw some b-roll of camera pass-thru with the virtual controllers overlaid on top.
I'm curious if we'll see Apple Vision style AR, I would love that with the camera passthru, even if the passthru images are black and white, just for situational awareness.
Also I hope to see SteamVR Home letting you do some more AR stuff, like your VR "home" has a couch where your actual couch is, and you can put props in place if bookshelves and other stuff instead of just a chaperone wall.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
I'm also wondering about desktop mode. The easiest thing seems to be a window in VR with the desktop. Kind of like the settings on steamVR now. They could make it a lot cooler if it's important to them.
I would love vision style passthru. Especially where you can place windows in 3d space.
Oktokolo@reddit
Valve uses monochrome cameras for the pass-through mode to limit the intensity of nerdgasms caused by this headset.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
It's not working.
Oktokolo@reddit
Wait till you see the price tag.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
Theyre keeping it to themselves for now because there's an optimal nerdgasm level for any launch. Somewhere in between full color cameras and 1k per unit.
InstanceTurbulent719@reddit
I mean you can probably stream your desktop like with steam link right now
Saragon4005@reddit
This is supposed to have cameras and and AR capabilities maybe.
Dom1252@reddit
You will definitely be able to do that, it has a mode for gaming on PC and a 6GHz wifi dongle that connects to it with decent throughput so you get ok nitrate
AndrewNeo@reddit
foveated rendering means the best stream quality is where you're looking. it should be great
Dom1252@reddit
we'll how well it'll work outside of games with things like text, but since human eyes are pretty horrible out of very narrow area, it might be actually awesome even in way more demanding situations (like reading a document) than games
jameson71@reddit
nitrates are bad, mmk?
lord_phantom_pl@reddit
I want FPV mod.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
I want it so bad. You could have the view displayed in a virtual window and then have graphs with telemetry around it. Maybe even have a whoop with a wifi 6 video tx for flying around your house. With AR passthrough, maybe you could catch your drone without having to try and get your headset off real quick before it crashes.
If they're talking about using the front connector for color AR passthrough, it's probably low enough latency for FPV.
linksoon@reddit
You mean like this?
https://youtu.be/nAZViExO_Y4
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
That's pretty cool! I've seen a few people use the quest 3 for things like this. For me, part of the cool part of using it on the frame is if you get streaming working on linux, you can use a steamdeck, a laptop, a vr headset, or a desktop to do it without too much extra work.
linksoon@reddit
btw I found the post about it https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality/s/7tAAlmoQJv
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
This is dope. I think my brother has one of those, I might have to try it out! Thanks for sharing.
One of the comments said they should put a 180 degree camera on it so you could look around while you fly. That would also be epic!
linksoon@reddit
I recently made a list of channels that upload that 180 footage, in case you want to check it out. http://youtube.com/post/UgkxDGfH3b9RKOmuAXOacWGeNhwKDATKRYfQ
Flying fpv 180 in real time would be fantastic.
lord_phantom_pl@reddit
Maybe with OpenIPC it will be viable. There is USB on the back as the most easiest mod. However I’d like to have full analog.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
I want it so bad. You could have the view displayed in a virtual window and then have graphs with telemetry around it. Maybe even have a whoop with a wifi 6 video tx for flying around your house. With AR passthrough, maybe you could catch your drone without having to try and get your headset off real quick before it crashes.
If they're talking about using the front connector for color AR passthrough, it's probably low enough latency for FPV.
un-important-human@reddit
1 yes its your os, your computer just like the steam deck
2 . not sure what you want to say
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
Yeah, but it's usefulness depends on how you can use the desktop mode. It's not clear how they're going to do that. I assume there'll just be a floating window with your desktop, but who knows. Could be they let you make as many virtual displays as you want or have a custom window manager or something.
un-important-human@reddit
bro did you even use steam deck? its literally linux kde
JackHarkness03@reddit
I am seriously over the moon for this device. Reading these comments makes me all giddy. We truly are living in the best timeline haha.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
I know! I don't even use VR that much, but because it's a full Linux device I'm considering buying it. Especially if the linux side is really good. When I started using linux back in the day, I never expected it to go this far.
DudeLoveBaby@reddit
Being fully immersed in my desktop VR headset WALL-E style is just a little too dystopian for me and I do think people are overblowing the impact this is going to have on the desktop market, but I DO think that this will be great for helping bolster the state and compatibility of Linux gaming
flower-power-123@reddit
I have never seen this device but I tried to use several very expensive head mounted displays (Notably the goovis G3X). All together I have spent more than 1000 on this idea. I have a back injury that occasionally lands me in bed for weeks at a time so I really need something functional. These head mounted displays do not work for that purpose. If something better does come along then I might be temped to dip a toe in again but what I learned from actually buying and using these things is that they suck and the reviewers have been lying about it. I think that they are getting payed off.
CrazyKilla15@reddit
Its a new up-coming device from Valve, it isnt out yet.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
Dang, sorry about the back injury. Mine bothers me sometimes too, but never to that degree. From your review, it seems like the main problem with the one you tried was that the edges get blurry? I wonder if you'd have better luck with a 'floating' virtual display? Ie one that stays stationary when you move your head around? That way you can look at the edges and use the clearest part of the display to see it?
flower-power-123@reddit
The main issue is that I get a headache after a few hours. That is caused by the blurriness and the weight of the glasses on my head. I am concentrating right now on mounting a large monitor on an arm above the bed.
avetenebrae@reddit
Writing / inspecting / debugging webxr code directly on device is going to be sweet instead of taking your headset on and off a thousand times. Connect a bluetooth keyboard and you don't even need another machine anymore for complete webxr development.
martin_xs6@reddit (OP)
I didn't even think of the potential for VR dev. I made a few toy apps in VR with unity in college, and it would have been great to not have to keep switching. Especially since the VR headsets back then were super heavy, haha. Hopefully the dev tools work on arm or work through the translation layer(s).