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Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer

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Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer

#371

Post by westoncb »

kanetw wrote: post #182
ansible wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> * Is there some useful interactions between 3D visualization and high-quality small-text rendering? If you have good VR/3D developer stories, then this can work.* Yes, I want to see a CAD application where the user is looking at a complex CAD model in 3D, with labeled parts and everything, and usefully interacting with it. Typing commands, grabbing and turning the model, etc.

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.

Might check out Gravity Sketch: https://www.gravitysketch.com/

At first brush it appears more like these other VR "sketching" apps than a serious CAD tool, but it's actually pretty feature rich in that direction and continuing to evolve.

Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer

#372

Post by georgewsinger »

cardosof wrote: post #138

This is the coolest way I've seen to have my mind focused on work 24/7 even while I'm laying down resting. If my employer gives me one of those I'll quit on the spot but I want to buy one (secretly) to try it, damn.

Glad you're intrigued =] Supine computing is massively underrated, but often requires expensive desks or time-intensive DIY setups (that aren't portable).[1] VR computing opens this up as one of its additional use cases.

[1] https://mgsloan.com/posts/supine-computing/

Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer

#373

Post by georgewsinger »

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #304

This is great. The project is great, GNU/Linux support is great. Hope this flies. As for the price complaints, don't listen to them and price it as you see fit. It is your business, after all. If it costs too much for someone, they won't buy it, end pf story. Or they can get themselves some cheap(ish) metaware.

Thanks for your support. It is pretty cool to live in a society where people are free to "vote with their dollars" on projects that they like or don't like. If we had to convince 51% of the public (even the tech public) that this was a good idea in order to proceed, we would never be able to get off the ground. We just have to find a small number of people who agree it's cool (and can afford our high/early costs).

With that said, we understand that our product is very expensive and not affordable for everyone.[1] We've done as much as we can (within our constraints) to offer as low of a price as we can. This includes ditching Kickstarter to pass on an extra $100/unit of savings.[2] We hope to reduce costs with future iterations as we get more economies of scale and manufacturing know-how.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29923197

[2] https://simulavr.com/blog/launching-this-weekend/

Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer

#374

Post by georgewsinger »

schaefer wrote: post #211

Hi George, I'm definitely super interested in the space - to the extent that I've ordered recently received a competitor's product (the Varjo Aero) with the intent that would be used almost exclusively for productivity. I have to be blunt, the going has been rough. The clarity of the display is more than up to the task of writing software all day. But, the Aero is a windows only product. There either isn't, or I have…

Somewhat echoing on kanetw/David's comments:

But yeah, there aren't many options that I'm aware of, even in Windows. This frankly astonishes me. Of course we're biased, and think that Linux is a better OS than Windows, but it seems like Microsoft is missing a major opportunity by not focusing harder on consumer VR computing.

The HoloLens was an amazing (early/experimental) product that was years ahead of its time. Rather than developing it (and other VR/AR computers) into consumer ready products, they seemed to have spent a bunch of time netting government VR contracts, and now focusing on Metaverse/social networking/gaming (like everyone else).

Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer

#375

Post by georgewsinger »

Mockapapella wrote: post #119

Super excited about this. Ordered one seconds after the shop went up. Being able to have greater than desktop levels of screen space with the same mobility as a laptop is such an attractive feature that I'm really looking forward to taking advantage of.

Thank you so much for your support! We feel an immense responsibility to deliver on our promise over the course of the year, and look forward to updating you on our progress through our weekly updates.

Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer

#376

Post by addaon »

kanetw wrote: post #79
gorjusborg wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is definitely too expensive for broad adoption, but maybe it doesn't need broad adoption? I might buy one if I could find a way to experience it first.

We'll be able to have reviewable prototype units in a few months. Depending on how many critical components (displays, primarily) we have we might be able to set up some way to test it for non-reviewers.

I'd strongly suggest having a public demo day somewhere, with a note dropped on HN and maybe a couple of other target-rich environments. Even just camping outside of Coupa with a couple of headsets for a workday will get a couple hundred people to see the unit, and I suspect that you'll get better conversion for that effort than most other things you could attempt.

I'm super, super interested in this type of product, but it's about 4x outside of my casual toy budget. Based on experience with other VR and AR headsets I'm not comfortable putting down the money until I see the optics myself.

Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer

#377

Post by addaon »

reaperducer wrote: post #120
drcode wrote: post #63

I love that they fully embrace the "sitting at the coffee shop with my VR headset" aesthetic. I'm totally ready to support this vision and preorder one and let my freak flag fly at my local coffee shop!

I love that they fully embrace the "sitting at the coffee shop with my VR headset" aesthetic. I'm totally ready to support this vision and preorder one and let my freak flag fly at my local coffee shop! To each, his own. To me, the videos of the guy sitting in the park surrounded by trees and birds and nature, but completely blocking them out with his headset is dystopian. The world is wonderful, and if I have to wor…

I will say that this is almost a compelling use case for the Founder's Edition outward-facing LED display... being able to set it to "Interrupt Me!" vs "Do Not Disturb" could be pretty useful for guiding the rest of the world on how to interact with you.

Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer

#378

Post by rvz »

ianbutler wrote: post #310
rvz wrote: post #161

Earlier 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. Right. So how on earth does this 'Simula One' stand a chance against the rest of the competition, especially when Apple, Sony, Microsoft plan on or are already competing against Meta? Compared to the competition, price and adoption, the 'Simula One' is a first-gen obsolete contraption…

I don't think it would, but it doesn't have to because they're not targeting the same market which is pretty obvious. And that wasn't your initial argument either, your argument was a generalization against the whole of VR.

My whole initial argument is both towards the late to market and obsolete first-gen ‘Simula One’ against the crowded competition and predicting the next consumer product that will likely supersede the iPhone and it clearly isn’t VR headsets as I have explained and you have already admitted.

> your argument was a generalization against the whole of VR.

My generalization of VR is towards its limited market and use cases to special VR games or VR training. Other than that, what other uses cases exist for it?

Also, where are the sources to that 12 million and 20% year over year figures that you just brought up?

I think we both know how limited and niche VR headsets are towards games and VR training.

Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer

#379

Post by riskable »

kanetw wrote: post #285
riskable wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The natural motion for removing any VR headset is to lift it off your face and then hold it via the head strap which points the display directly upwards. Also, when placing the headset down for charging it's also natural to hang it up on a hook of some sort (via the head strap) which also has the side effect of pointing the lenses upwards. If someone does this near a window the sun can destroy it in no time.

Huh. That's not how I take them off, but I'm also mindful about optics damage. Some kind of shutter is a bit hard to do due to space constraints, but I'll see what can be done.

Just release the 3D models for the frame of the thing and hold a contest for the 3D printing community to make one

Heck, with those details I could probably make something that works well enough.

Re: Show HN: Simula One – Portable Linux VR Computer

#380

Post by mobiledev2014 »

zmmmmm wrote: post #339

I love how breathtakingly audacious this is, and I yearn to pre-order it. However, the same thing (the audacity) is what makes it nearly impossible to put down $3k on it before it really ships and real people really try it. Watch any of John Carmack's keynotes and see the just incredible level of detailed engineering refinement that has to go into solving even basic showstopper issues with VR headsets. That a small t…

6 months from now Apple might have used WWDC to completely flip the table on VR/AR. Extremely interested to see what they have coming and I don't think it's going to be a way to manage traditional flat applications. This doesn't take away from how awesome Simula One looks but it's still an elephant in the room.
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