Valve have put up SteamVR for Linux officially in Beta form and they are keen to stress that this is a development release.
You will need to run the latest Steam Beta Client for it to work at all, so be sure to opt-in if you want to play around with it.
VR on Linux will exclusively use Vulkan, so it's going to be a pretty good push for Vulkan if VR becomes more popular. Vulkan is likely one of the pieces of the puzzle that held it back, since Vulkan itself and the drivers are still so new.
On NVIDIA, you need to have the 375.27.10 "Developer Beta Driver", which can be found here. There's also this PPA for Ubuntu users. It's likely it needs some newer Vulkan extensions not found in the current stable drivers.
For AMD GPU owners, you need a very recent build of the open source radv driver (Mesa), Valve provide this pre-release on their github page.
Intel GPUs are not supported and it's probable it will be a long time until they are, since VR generally requires some beefy hardware to run smoothly. It's possible they may work in future, but I imagine the Intel 'anv' Vulkan driver needs more work done.
Also, you will likely need some updated udev rules, but all of that and more can be read about on their github page for it.
It's exciting to finally see VR on Linux starting to become a real reality now. I just wish the hardware wasn't so damn expensive. It will likely be a long time before I can afford a headset myself to review, but hopefully someone can send us a review unit to hold onto.
Thanks for tweeting it to me Dennis. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
You will need to run the latest Steam Beta Client for it to work at all, so be sure to opt-in if you want to play around with it.
VR on Linux will exclusively use Vulkan, so it's going to be a pretty good push for Vulkan if VR becomes more popular. Vulkan is likely one of the pieces of the puzzle that held it back, since Vulkan itself and the drivers are still so new.
On NVIDIA, you need to have the 375.27.10 "Developer Beta Driver", which can be found here. There's also this PPA for Ubuntu users. It's likely it needs some newer Vulkan extensions not found in the current stable drivers.
For AMD GPU owners, you need a very recent build of the open source radv driver (Mesa), Valve provide this pre-release on their github page.
Intel GPUs are not supported and it's probable it will be a long time until they are, since VR generally requires some beefy hardware to run smoothly. It's possible they may work in future, but I imagine the Intel 'anv' Vulkan driver needs more work done.
Also, you will likely need some updated udev rules, but all of that and more can be read about on their github page for it.
It's exciting to finally see VR on Linux starting to become a real reality now. I just wish the hardware wasn't so damn expensive. It will likely be a long time before I can afford a headset myself to review, but hopefully someone can send us a review unit to hold onto.
Thanks for tweeting it to me Dennis. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: ShmerlCan it work as a drop in replacement for OpenVR (API that SteamVR uses)? Also, strangely it seems to be using OpenGL, not Vulkan.
I don't believe it's meant as a drop in replacement yet. Yes, it's using OpenGL. I unfortunately know little about it, other than knowing that it will be a way to use VR devices without being dependant upon Valve.
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TheRiddick Feb 22, 2017
Traditionally to achieve stereoscopic you needed the video card to process 2 renders per frame, one for each eye, that is no longer required as proven by NVIDIA and a some VR helmet makers. (yes I don't think its nvidia exclusive anymore, and I heard of Pimax doing some sort of frame-buffer trick but I don't know much more their helmet then what I have read).
Makes 4k rather easier to achieve, plus remember allot of VR games are optimized towards framerate much stricter then traditional games, so a traditional game like Deus Ex might only give you 40fps, if it was made for VR they would and could easily double that with optimizations and reductions where possible.
If your VR game runs crap and you have decent hardware, then chances are its the game to blame for it.
Last edited by TheRiddick on 22 February 2017 at 12:12 pm UTC
Makes 4k rather easier to achieve, plus remember allot of VR games are optimized towards framerate much stricter then traditional games, so a traditional game like Deus Ex might only give you 40fps, if it was made for VR they would and could easily double that with optimizations and reductions where possible.
If your VR game runs crap and you have decent hardware, then chances are its the game to blame for it.
Last edited by TheRiddick on 22 February 2017 at 12:12 pm UTC
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Doc Angelo Feb 22, 2017
Quoting: TheRiddickTraditionally to achieve stereoscopic you needed the video card to process 2 renders per frame, one for each eye, that is no longer required as proven by NVIDIA and a some VR helmet makers.
Do you have a link for that? No matter what, you need to have 2 pictures/views/renders for stereoscopic vision, and of course have to be different from each other. It doesn't work any other way. Maybe you mean that the engines have made improvements in sharing as much processing and ressources as possible for those 2 pictures/views/renders?
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TheRiddick Feb 22, 2017
Here is a link to the headset, you can investigate it yourself if interested.
http://www.gearbest.com/pc-headset/pp_436489.html
I probably would have bought one of those if it had positional tracking...
Last edited by TheRiddick on 22 February 2017 at 12:56 pm UTC
http://www.gearbest.com/pc-headset/pp_436489.html
I probably would have bought one of those if it had positional tracking...
Last edited by TheRiddick on 22 February 2017 at 12:56 pm UTC
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Doc Angelo Feb 22, 2017
Quoting: TheRiddickHere is a link to the headset, you can investigate it yourself if interested.
The headset has not much to do with how 2 pictures are rendered. Every headset is "just" a display (or two). The computer renders the images, and to have stereoscopic vision you need 2 images. If you render only one view, you don't have any 3D effect.
Last edited by Doc Angelo on 22 February 2017 at 1:28 pm UTC
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*faints*
... Open eyes, sees headline and
*faints again*
Dare we hope for a full-fledged VR experience before summer? I think we do! Time to start saving some SERIOUS cash!
... Open eyes, sees headline and
*faints again*
Dare we hope for a full-fledged VR experience before summer? I think we do! Time to start saving some SERIOUS cash!
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Quoting: TheRiddickYou can get a 4k VR headset from Pimax I think its called, they also intend to release a bigger product in a next few months that has two 4k screens in it and FULL tracking setup. It will take time before there drivers get good but 4k with full tracking might be enough to convince me to get one.
BTW the 4k Pimax one is like $400usd so not bad. However only directional tracking :(
I still laugh at people with this concept that computers can't do 4k VR, its like listening to OLD people comment about tech...
From what I hear Pimax only does 30 FPS at the full 4k resolution due to limitations of HDMI 1.4 making it pretty much unusable at that resolution so I don't think it's a great example to cite as proof for 4k VR being possible...
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Quoting: Doc AngeloQuoting: TheRiddickHere is a link to the headset, you can investigate it yourself if interested.
The headset has not much to do with how 2 pictures are rendered. Every headset is "just" a display (or two). The computer renders the images, and to have stereoscopic vision you need 2 images. If you render only one view, you don't have any 3D effect.
I see why you put "just" in quotes but to be even more fair a VR HMD has a few other boxes it needs to tick besides being "just" a display.
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TheRiddick Feb 22, 2017
They have a driver and software for their headset, that is doing the thing for them. You actually need to look deeper and I won't be holding your hand, if you don't believe me then fine whatever I don't care.
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Doc Angelo Feb 22, 2017
Quoting: TheRiddickThey have a driver and software for their headset, that is doing the thing for them. You actually need to look deeper and I won't be holding your hand, if you don't believe me then fine whatever I don't care.
I don't need you to hold my hand. But if you want others to take your science defeating statement more serious, you should have a better source than some random electronics company selling their products with bullshit bingo marketing.
"Blue Laser Harm Protection" ...?
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