If you were guaranteed to sell 100k units, what could you price the standalone at?
100k? 2k should be doable without compromising on the specs.
Is there some number of units where you could hit $1k on all in cost per unit?
Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer
311–320 of 409 posts
Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer
#312Earlier quoted context omitted.
So the Quest 2 sold over 12million headsets in the last year. And over the last few years VR has seen a growth rate of over 20% YOY. I always wonder if when people like you make a comment if you actually look at figures or just go with your gut because you don't like something. I'm guessing the latter. The mass adoption is happening right under your nose, an entire generation of US kids are growing up with VR right n…
I always wonder if when people like you make a comment if you actually look at figures or just go with your gut because you don't like something. I'm guessing the latter. On the other hand, I don't wonder whether people who think negging is an argument are fanbois.
Well since you cut out my actual argument and substantiation I guess you could see it that way. I tend to negg on top of making my arguments though.
Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer
#313I love the idea to be able to work in many places while keeping a good posture! On the pictures, it looks like there is no pointing device. Is the pointing done by eye tracking? How do you click on things? How do you deal with "focus follow mouse"? For example I often look at one window while typing in another.
Yes, Simula allows for you to retain full control of window management with only a keyboard; mouse and hand gestures are not necessarily needed, though will be supported also.
In order to do this, we make use forward eye gaze, which you can use to move mouse cursors (and also to move windows around). Customizable keyboard shortcuts can be configured to resize/shrink/expand/zoom in/zoom out/push in/push away windows. Default keyboard shortcuts are explained in our GitHub repo (https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula).
As a demonstration, here's an old demo of me using eye gaze to manipulate windows: https://youtu.be/rm72Qmi8Bik
RE "focus follow mouse", Simula is currently set so that the "actively gazed at window" is the one that receives all inputs. We have found this to be pretty resilient almost all use cases, but as you said there are scenarios where you want to lock focus on a window while typing on another. We should add a keyboard shortcut to do this (would be very easy to implement).
Thanks for your interest BTW. The posture/freedom of movement part is one of my favorite things about VR computing. I love to work on things while "supine".[1] It allows you to get way more time spent on a task without the constraint of physical/postural fatigue limiting you.
[1] As demonstrated in this cool blog series I found: https://mgsloan.com/posts/supine-computing/
Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer
#314Man, what has HAPPENED to this place? I'm the biggest curmudgeon in the room, I'll have six feet of dirt on my face before I agree to use this daily, but damn, folks, this IS cool. Everyone complains about boring stagnating consumer tech, locked-down hardware, and Mark Zuckerberg making a real go at personally stalking every single person on the planet - this is the _exact opposite of that_. This is high-end, incredi…
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Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer
#315Earlier quoted context omitted.
So the Quest 2 sold over 12million headsets in the last year. And over the last few years VR has seen a growth rate of over 20% YOY. I always wonder if when people like you make a comment if you actually look at figures or just go with your gut because you don't like something. I'm guessing the latter. The mass adoption is happening right under your nose, an entire generation of US kids are growing up with VR right n…
In my opinion it's more the contrast and the expectation. I am waiting for something like the metaverse and I do realize that it will not happen as hoped. I got 3D glasses in 2005 or so when I had a crt display and it was a fun novelty. I watched 3D movies in the cinema and it's a nice novelty but I do prefer a brighter screen. I watched 3D movie on a flat screen display and it was okay. I got a HTC vive pro with wir…
I'll start by saying I don't want a metaverse and no one else I know with VR headsets do either. We really like them as media consumption devices and for gaming, chatting and working out. But I don't want to or need to live in the device and they don't either.
You have to look at the curve of adoption VS total number, the trajectory they're on. In only 3 years they've managed to grow to that number. If it continues they will be at console numbers in under 10 years. Which a quick Google has told me before is about 85-100 million consoles.
Gaming and media, fitness and social are massive multi 100s of billion dollar markets and I see that being the long term success of VR not this live your life in it type deal.
Also friendly reminder a lot of these cyberpunkesque films and shows are dystopic in nature it's not to be emulated it's to depict failings of society that led to those states. I love the aesthetic of cyberpunk as much as anyone else but the societies they live in are warnings to us, not desired outcomes.
Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer
#316Earlier quoted context omitted.
In my opinion it's more the contrast and the expectation. I am waiting for something like the metaverse and I do realize that it will not happen as hoped. I got 3D glasses in 2005 or so when I had a crt display and it was a fun novelty. I watched 3D movies in the cinema and it's a nice novelty but I do prefer a brighter screen. I watched 3D movie on a flat screen display and it was okay. I got a HTC vive pro with wir…
> VR is in my opinion a success if it becomes normal but no one really uses it day to day. I think pretty much all the members of my family regularly play games in VR (on their own headsets). > But as something central like I imagined the metaverse or what ready player one proposed? We don’t actually want that. That movie was supposed to display something dystopian. Meta is something dystopian.
Heh. My personal take on Facebook's Metaverse[1] is that it jams the entire framing of VR computing through the prism of "social network", which causes all kinds of poor product focus and misaligned incentives.
With that said, I personally don't mind Meta selling Quest units at a loss. It's been a net good for the ecosystem (IMO), and has exposed a lot of people to VR who wouldn't be able to afford a headset otherwise. I just think their product direction & focus is otherwise shit.
Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer
#317Man, what has HAPPENED to this place? I'm the biggest curmudgeon in the room, I'll have six feet of dirt on my face before I agree to use this daily, but damn, folks, this IS cool. Everyone complains about boring stagnating consumer tech, locked-down hardware, and Mark Zuckerberg making a real go at personally stalking every single person on the planet - this is the _exact opposite of that_. This is high-end, incredi…
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Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer
#318Price is too rich for my blood, but I will be watching with interest how it goes. I have tried working in VR a few times with my WMR headset and never found a setup which was effective. This looks pretty good! I would love to give it a try first of course.
Thanks for your interest. We're looking forward to review units shipping out in the next few months, which might help you get a sense for how the product performs by real testers. We also will be sending our weekly updates showcasing the progress of our headset development (you can subscribe here if you're interested: https://newsletter.simulavr.com/).
RE pricing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30441454
Which WMR headset did you try? The main improvement our headset will likely have over your previous experience is a significantly higher PPD/pixel density (which helps text become legible). The exception is if you tried the HoloLens, which has a fairly decent PPD (but a very low FoV).
Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer
#319Looks like a very interesting prospect for a laptop replacement. One small question I haven't seen answered here is if you can plug in an external display, or how you plan to handle web conferences. Most orgs I've worked for like you to have a webcam on, and see others. I'm not sure how that would practically work if they see a webcam of someone with their headset on, would make for a pretty akward meeting.
Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer
#320Earlier quoted context omitted.
That would be so, so cool. I don't see this happening for a while unless a CAD vendor works with us but definitely where I see this tech.
The Blender / FreeCAD communities might bite.
Was thinking what GitHub does to preview STLs. I'm assuming WebGL with glTF exported... Meaning am ElectronJS app in transparent mode code render a 3D thing like a part to be 3D printed.