VR is not yet and may never be at the place where you want to spend a full workday in it. It’s good in a pinch for traveling etc. but honestly it’s just not what it’s best at.
Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?
221–230 of 257 posts
Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?
#222You can comfortably work in VR, but the trick is that you can't use any of the headsets as is. There are upgrades that you really need: A better head strap, ideally one with an adjustment knob at the back to easily loosen and tighten the headset. Also one with an extra battery that both gives you longer unplugged time but more importantly balances the headset front to back. And a better headset/face interface. You ca…
> A better head strap, ideally one with an adjustment knob at the back to easily loosen and tighten the headset. Also one with an extra battery that both gives you longer unplugged time but more importantly balances the headset front to back. You're pretty much describing the Quest Pro. This part also matches the Quest 2 with Elite Battery Strap for what it's worth, but the Quest Pro also matches your next criteria,…
> You're pretty much describing the Quest Pro.
Speaking as a user of a heavily comfort-modded Quest 2 and recent Pro owner: the Pro is surprisingly comfortable (especially with the below lifehack) and mostly on par with a Quest 2 with a modded Bobo halo strap.
Craziest thing about the Quest Pro is that you can (carefully) pop off the back cushion and flip it. I highly recommend anyone with a Pro try it out since it’s significantly more comfortable and brings a very noticeable increase in FoV.
There’s a thread about this on one of the Quest subreddits - and there’s not a single comment from anyone who prefers the stock placement. It does make aligning the charging dock a bit finicky but otherwise it’s kind of strange that Meta chose the other cushion direction as the default.
Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you share a pointer to setup information for this? I bought a Meta Quest Pro a little while ago (my first VR headset) and really have no idea what I'm doing with it yet.
Nothing special…I just use horizon workrooms Instructions https://www.meta.com/help/quest/articles/horizon/getting-sta... There is similar apps from third parties too but I haven’t tried those yet
Workrooms is by far the best experience right now but, if you want multi monitors on Windows, Immersed is an okay runner-up.
My biggest complaint about Workrooms is that the MacBook Pro keyboard recognition doesn’t have an option for the 14in model, oddly.
Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
(I'm trying a pair out. They are on Amazon for $379 and extended returns during Christmas...) It feels like a wall height screen about 8-10 feet in front of you. Perhaps a little bigger would be good, but it isn't that too small. The resolution of 1920x1080 is ok. I wish it was higher. And it doesn't support AR monitors (the 1920x1080 in the glasses a mirror of the iPad - except for blink .. - the demos for android a…
I would highly recommend buying a Samsung S10E second hand off of ebay or something for $100 and using that. Once you've used Dex and Nebula with a bluetooth mouse and keyboard it will all click. It's incredible.
What are Dex and Nebula? (I’m considering trying this setup)
Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
I recently switched from a 4k monitor+one/two 1080p monitors to a single monitor, and I prefer it now as well, but with one big caveat - it is a single 5k ultrawide monitor with thunderbolt 4. I simply connect my macbook to it using one cable, and I am done. That one cable provides power/charge to the laptop, outputs stuff on my big screen, and allows my laptop to use any devices connected to the USB hub built into t…
I've been going down the 5k display research-rabbithole recently. Hope you don't mind me asking which monitor you're using and also do you know if Thunderbolt 3 can handle it?
I absolutely don't mind, and please feel free to ask more questions if you have any.
This[0] is the one I have. It is explicitly listed as thunderbolt 4, but, unfortunately, i dont't know if it supports thunderbolt 3. My hunch is that it does, but something wont work perfectly. Most likely, the usb hub won't, and the refresh rate will drop from 72hz to 60hz. Which is imo not a big deal whatsoever, as the main functionality that I personally value is still there.
LG also seems to have a thunderbolt 3 ultrawide monitor[1] that is very similar, and I recommend checking that one out. Only heard good things about it, and it is pretty much the predecessor of the one I linked in the beginning.
0. https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-40wp95c-w
1. https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-34WK95U-W-ultrawide-monito...
Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have definitely tried to use VR in a car while someone's driving I don't get motion sickness very easy so I often try to make myself throw up. When I first tried VR something was bugged with elite dangerous and so I was just sitting there doing as many barrel rolls and backflips as possible trying to make myself throw up and one of my co-workers came in looked at the 2D monitor asked me what I was doing said they g…
>I don't get motion sickness very easy so I often try to make myself throw up huh?
I've almost never been able to do it.
I do it to see where the limits are. I worked in games when the orignal (of this wave) VR stuff was being made. Many of the devs tried all sorts of stuff to see what made them nauseous so they DIDNT ship it. As a game dev you need to think about discomfort of your users. So seeing painful audio, flickers, buzzing, flashes, nausea, that's being player centric. But sometimes you do want to make people uncomfortable for a feeling and you need to know the range to take it to.
Just about everything we eat is because someone tried it and saw if it killed them or made them sick. We got diving tables because divers got the bends and we figured out what caused them and what the limits are. On an on in human history. I'm not putting myself in the same boat as test pilot or navy diver but plenty of people push the envelope to see where it is.
Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not an assumption: movement is relative. Quite fun to think about it (Einstein's elevator mental experiment)
But here the movement is relative to two things. You're aware of your motion relative to the plane, and the headset is aware of its motion relative to earth's gravitational field. Einstein's elevator experiment only works when you're traveling on a (reversed) path that matches one that would be caused by gravitational force.
The other thing to think about is a lot of these systems use kalman filters and sensor fusion, so stuff like a compass will cause drift. They jsut didn't design the software to think about movement. It could be conmpensated for.
Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?
#228I question if any of these other commenters have actually tried the Quest Pro yet and specifically with 1) Horizon Workrooms and 2) a mac and 3) a supported tracked keyboard from apple or Logitech. I was a complete Meta disbeliever and long time Quest owner, having put a few dozen hours into working in Immersed last year before putting it down and accepting it wasn’t good enough. Fast forward to last weekend, give it…
can you post screenshots?
Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
This just isn't true, optics really do work, the focal point is not close to your face and it doesn't feel or effect you like the screen is close to your face in anyway.
I'd give all my belongings to anyone who can work full time for a year with a VR headset instead of screens and who wouldn't complain a single time about it I've used VR headsets, nothing is comfortable after even an hour of use, we're just not designed for that
To clarify my post, I was not trying to claim that the current vr headsets are comfortable, just that it isn't remotely like having a screen inches from your face.
Re: Ask HN: Working in a VR Headset?
#230I’ve been thinking about this lately (as are many people, I’d imagine, with all the Metaverse hoopla) and I think the adoption line for VR is text resolution. Once a headset is in play that can match out of headset text resolution, rapid adoption, tooling, etc. will follow. Something I’ve been thinking about is tooling, though. Like if I had a browser and file storage in an environment with infinitely scalable window…
The good news is that you "just" need the window manager/display environment of an OS. The bad news is that it is still a lot of hard work to nail down that kind of experience I imagine some apps will be VR-optimized and others just flat
That’s very exciting, I think. Problems that can be solved by people outside of the ecosystem are exciting. I think as long as VR can be taken full advantage for display management, we can make due until more niche applications of the input systems can be developed.