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Simula One: an office-focused, standalone VR headset built on top of Linux

simulavr.com

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Re: Simula One: an office-focused, standalone VR headset built on top of Linux

#141
post #42

Fun note, almost all of it is written in Haskell. If I remember correctly they've also done a bunch of stuff that helps Godot, or at least something to do with the Haskell bindings. Very accessible guys, I once asked a question on the gitter, and got helpful replies almost immediately.

I often find myself wondering what the 'killer app' of purely functional programming languages is. For the longest time I assumed they would become much more popular as multi-core cpus proliferated, but pretty much every purely functional language out there is relegated to a dusty corner.

Re: Simula One: an office-focused, standalone VR headset built on top of Linux

#142

One of the founders of Simula here. We're flattered that someone posted us to HN, but we were honestly not ready for this much publicity at this precise stage of our project. It would have been better had this happened a few weeks from now, when we have more accurate footage of our actual prototype to show. Let me explain: 1. *Video footage.* The video footage on the front page of www.simulavr.com is taken against an…

Another founder here, with some more comments on the tech side of things:

1. The software is relatively usable, and you can try it out right now on https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula

2. The hardware is still being worked on, and the website is kind of a list of expected specs/placeholder in that regard:

2.a. The compute unit is tested and works, but requires a custom carrier board to fit the form factor. This is a blocker for the final product, but relatively low priority for the prototype.

2.b. Lens system design is scheduled to be complete in early November, with first prototypes available in early December. We're planning to use Valve Index lenses as a stopgap right now for prototyping etc.

2.c. We're currently solving a few challenges in driving the displays, as we're pushing the boundaries of the available technology, and at our volumes support from manufacturers is like pulling teeth. BOE supplies the 2880x2880 panels and there aren't even enough docs to figure out how to drive the (non-trivial, local dimming based) backlight.

2.d. We're also experimenting with different approaches to tracking as our original plan (RealSense) became end-of-life recently. I'm interested in an mmwave based solution, but we might just use RGB cameras instead.

2.e. The mechanical design for the front part is reasonably advanced, but we're still working on the back part.

There's a lot more going on right now that's probably not coming to mind immediately, but that should provide a good overview.

Re: Simula One: an office-focused, standalone VR headset built on top of Linux

#143

One of the founders of Simula here. We're flattered that someone posted us to HN, but we were honestly not ready for this much publicity at this precise stage of our project. It would have been better had this happened a few weeks from now, when we have more accurate footage of our actual prototype to show. Let me explain: 1. *Video footage.* The video footage on the front page of www.simulavr.com is taken against an…

Thank you for the clarification.

Let me ask you a quick question that is surely on the minds of many other HNers:

Are you guys using the prototypes for day-to-day work (i.e., are you dogfooding Simula hardware and software)?

Re: Simula One: an office-focused, standalone VR headset built on top of Linux

#144
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the finished product will automatically emerge "Finished"? No. Somewhat usable and constantly being updated or rewritten? Probably.

At least the software never deliberately works against the user, and never is defective by design.

> At least the software never deliberately works against the user

I look at some of the Gnome 3 design choices and I start to question that.

Re: Simula One: an office-focused, standalone VR headset built on top of Linux

#145

One of the founders of Simula here. We're flattered that someone posted us to HN, but we were honestly not ready for this much publicity at this precise stage of our project. It would have been better had this happened a few weeks from now, when we have more accurate footage of our actual prototype to show. Let me explain: 1. *Video footage.* The video footage on the front page of www.simulavr.com is taken against an…

Thanks for posting here. I was getting ready to post something about the resolution, but... dang, now I'm excited. Good luck and god speed!

Re: Simula One: an office-focused, standalone VR headset built on top of Linux

#146

One of the founders of Simula here. We're flattered that someone posted us to HN, but we were honestly not ready for this much publicity at this precise stage of our project. It would have been better had this happened a few weeks from now, when we have more accurate footage of our actual prototype to show. Let me explain: 1. *Video footage.* The video footage on the front page of www.simulavr.com is taken against an…

Shut up and take my money!

Re: Simula One: an office-focused, standalone VR headset built on top of Linux

#147
post #142

One of the founders of Simula here. We're flattered that someone posted us to HN, but we were honestly not ready for this much publicity at this precise stage of our project. It would have been better had this happened a few weeks from now, when we have more accurate footage of our actual prototype to show. Let me explain: 1. *Video footage.* The video footage on the front page of www.simulavr.com is taken against an…

Another founder here, with some more comments on the tech side of things: 1. The software is relatively usable, and you can try it out right now on https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula 2. The hardware is still being worked on, and the website is kind of a list of expected specs/placeholder in that regard: 2.a. The compute unit is tested and works, but requires a custom carrier board to fit the form factor. This is a bl…

What's the best off the shelf inside-out tracking system you can get now? Does anything compete with Quest yet?

Re: Simula One: an office-focused, standalone VR headset built on top of Linux

#148

I have a question. Why? How it will improve my multi-monitor setup? I see only potential cons here. Wearing headset all day. It doesn't sound good for your neck and eyes, at all.

This reminds me a lot of SphereXP [1] A WindowsXP application that converted your desktop into a "spherical" desktop.

I agree on the cons: Wearing a headset all day? Also I wonder how looking at a light-bulb at 5cm of your eyes all day long will feel like.

OTOH for me one _advantage_ that these type of VR/AR technologies can bring is are "endless desktop space". Right now we have something like that with "multiple desktops" in Linux and OSX. But it will be cool to have just an endless space of screen real-estate to tile all open windows.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeHe-li-cZE

Re: Simula One: an office-focused, standalone VR headset built on top of Linux

#149

For me personally, my main concern would be text readability. It was probably an older model, but on a Vive I played games on for a good while I was struggling to read text on the game's HUD (Elite Dangerous). Pixelation in the center was also an issue, but manageable. I get by my workday nowadays with minimal head movement, enough to avoid it getting stuck but I don't have to crane around too much. That's probably n…

The Valve Index significantly improved on text readability. For example, I was able to easily read the blurb on the back of a random paperback in Half Life: Alyx.

Re: Simula One: an office-focused, standalone VR headset built on top of Linux

#150
post #147
post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another founder here, with some more comments on the tech side of things: 1. The software is relatively usable, and you can try it out right now on https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula 2. The hardware is still being worked on, and the website is kind of a list of expected specs/placeholder in that regard: 2.a. The compute unit is tested and works, but requires a custom carrier board to fit the form factor. This is a bl…

What's the best off the shelf inside-out tracking system you can get now? Does anything compete with Quest yet?

Nothing that's satisfactory in one way or another. Probably Luxonis DepthAI?

The main problem with off-the-shelf solutions is that they add another set of cameras, and afaik nothing exists that allows custom cameras.

We're gonna need an FPGA anyway due to the large amount of IO (2 cameras for AR, 2 for eye tracking, IMU, whatever other sensors we need, plus potentially mmwave radar if we decide to go that way) so it's tempting to put the processing on the FPGA as well.

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