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Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

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Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#61
This looks absolutely awesome, but I think there's a bit more to be done RE neck strain and general ergonomics for the vast majority of people.

If you are at a desk and/or without a swivel chair, you're pretty limited to a grid of ~9 screens directly in front of you, and even then it looks like you're turning your head a TON to see the outer layer.

Some ideas that might help:

1) To use an analogy, could you increase the "mouse speed" of moving your head? Right now it's 1:1 with the virtual space and makes geometric "sense", but it might be nice to be able to focus on screens on the left/right by moving your head less and having your focus move just as fast. For example, moving your head 50% of what you do now to zoom over to the same place would reduce neck strain when looking at those windows, but also open up a bit more window space if, for example, you could still move your neck 100% of what you're doing and be able to "look over" far enough to fit another set of screens even further out. I don't know if this disconnect in pan speed would be disorienting, but it's worth trying. :) c.f. https://i.imgur.com/0KCo9hG.png

2) Keyboard gestures to "re-center" your focus might also go a long way. Perhaps instead of craning your head to look at a window that isn't "straight ahead" for a long time (as long as you're working in that window), you could do a quick glance at that window and hit a keyboard shortcut that would recenter wherever you're looking to be your "straight ahead", so you could then straighten your neck back out and continue working in that window while in a more comfortable position. c.f. https://i.imgur.com/u6SI284.png

3) Likewise, we don't all have amazing headset resolutions and there's a lot of potentially wasted space whenever focusing on a particular window that's not "full-screened". Perhaps a keyboard shortcut to expand whatever screen you're looking at to the full size of your view would be helpful for eye strain. Even something that could temporarily "pin" a window to your view (full screen and moving with your gaze) might go a long way toward minimizing unused focus/pixels. c.f. https://i.imgur.com/yA1twKf.png

My immediate thought watching this was to mount a keyboard on a swivel chair, but I think requiring end-users to get customized hardware to take full advantage of your environment might be the wrong way to go. :)

Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#63
post #15
post #4

Well now I have something to use my SteamVR after I finish Half-Life: Alyx

If you're stuck I can name a few dozen other cool things to do. It's not like Alyx is the only reason to own a VR headset.

Please do share, I am new to this world as I just got a headset.

Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#64
post #59

In case people are curious what it's like to work in VR, here's a demo of me using Simula: https://youtu.be/FWLuwG91HnI I would argue that working in VR is fundamentally superior to working in PCs/laptops. It's basically 10x the screens, focus, and work immersion. Simula's text quality is also very good (getting around the eye fatigue present in older VR Desktops).

An interesting potential for VR would be alternative portable form factors. The laptop form factor is mostly dictated by the shape and size of the screen; since with VR the screen is moved to the HMD, this would no longer be a restriction. The webcam view is also interesting; if it were "inverted" so that, instead of being confined to a window, it was outside of all windows (that is, the background "wallpaper"), it w…

We do actually plan to design standalone portable devices as a longer-term business plan.

The AR idea is really interesting. We'll try replacing the background with "reality" as seen from the HMD cameras.

Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#65
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add to your questions - What about old farts with reading glasses, like me? Do they just work with VR, or are they even needed?

I wear glasses and VR is fine for me. I know some people who can't use it with glasses, but I think that's for clearance reasons. There's prescription lenses for headsets, but they're fairly expensive and IMO only worth it if you use VR a lot.

Also worth noting the foam guard on your headset can be adjusted or replaced for a better/different fit. I have three foam guards I alternate between (because people get sweaty when I have them over for Beat Saber and it's easy to swap in a clean one for the next person) and one of them didn't fit my glasses until I cut out some clearance for them. Now all three work well, and I wear glasses in VR 100% of the time.

Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#66
post #2

Wow, it is written in Haskell.

I was also impressed to see Nix package manager given first-class treatment.

Packaging this was an absolute nightmare due to various distributions shipping incompatible library versions and so on.

Nix, despite issues with everything OpenGL related, was the only thing that actually worked. And Cachix made installation really fast.

PS: if it starts building for some reason during the install process, let us know. We've tested it on various machines but due to some peculiarities specific configurations might require a rebuild even with Cachix. We can add that to the repo so that future installs and updates are faster.

Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#67

This looks absolutely awesome, but I think there's a bit more to be done RE neck strain and general ergonomics for the vast majority of people. If you are at a desk and/or without a swivel chair, you're pretty limited to a grid of ~9 screens directly in front of you, and even then it looks like you're turning your head a TON to see the outer layer. Some ideas that might help: 1) To use an analogy, could you increase…

1) I think that'll be super disorienting, but we might add a quicksnap feature like in HL Alyx to rotate your head quickly.

2) I believe we already have that (via Super-')

3) Good idea. Being able to instantly fullsize and "pin" a window sounds good, maybe even as a toggle.

Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#68
How does it get the image of an application inside of SimulaVR? Is it something weird like grabbing a graphics buffer? Or is it launching the applications as a child process so it can access its viewport? Or is it asking the windows manager? I'm not sure how this part works and am curious.

Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#70
post #68

How does it get the image of an application inside of SimulaVR? Is it something weird like grabbing a graphics buffer? Or is it launching the applications as a child process so it can access its viewport? Or is it asking the windows manager? I'm not sure how this part works and am curious.

We implement a Wayland compositor interface via `wlroots`. Windows can launch like usual in our environment (i.e. via DISPLAY or WAYLAND_DISPLAY).

X11 apps are supported via Xwayland.

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