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Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

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Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

#1

Post by holistio »

A few months ago I bought an Oculus Quest 2 with the vague idea that I'm going to set up a development environment inside it.

It is a bit heavier than I expected, and while I had some fun with Beat Saber, I have not used the thing for work.

I mostly do web development - Nuxt on the frontend, Rails on the backend. My standard development environment is Visual Studio Code.

I'm curious if anyone found a place for the Quest in their work processes.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

#3

Post by VoidWhisperer »

I used a tool called Immersed[1] for a bit. It is neat and potentially useful, as from what I remember you can create more virtual monitors than you have actual monitors, but the novelty wore off and I stopped, since I wasn't particularly more productive.

[1]: https://immersed.com/

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

#4

Post by kylecordes »

It's not particularly practical for this at the current oculus display resolution. Sure, there are tools discussed in the thread here with virtual monitors etc, but we'll have to wait for a future generation of hardware for those virtual monitors to have anywhere near the resolution of an actual monitor.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

#5

Post by neighborlynook »

Its definitely a different experience, but using Immersed was the best. You can set portals to your keyboard and have extra portals as well (like that spot on the table you put your drink).

To help with ergonomics, I would recommend a Halo style strap and a fan facial interface to help with longer sessions. If you were glasses, or computer glasses normally I generally recommend getting the Occulus prescription lens.

I would recommend at least trying it, as mentioned it won't be for everyone, but it is definitely a cool experience. With a bit more innovation at the ergonomics, I can definitely see this being a thing in the future.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

#6

Post by krautsourced »

No. And I sold all the VR devices I had over time rather quickly again. Once the novelty wears off, they just became supremely impractical. For gaming it required the shuffling of furniture. For anything else, neither the resolution nor comfort are there. Even worse if you wear glasses. And in the summer time... think diving goggles, only inverted.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

#7

Post by talkingtab »

Perhaps a related or unrelated question. What is the easiest Oculus development environment. I want a very simple "hello world" thing. I'm an experienced web/backend developer. I just want 4 avatars in a room who can see each other and talk to each other. I don't care if the avatars are spheres or boxes, just that they can sell "Hello World".

My current best guess is Unity, but perhaps there is something simpler to start with?

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tried development using an Oculus?

#8

Post by D13Fd »

LewisVerstappen wrote: post #2

Yeah I can't keep it on for more than an hour. Otherwise I start getting headaches and feeling nauseous.

For gaming, I initially had motion sickness and headaches, but after a few months of use they went away entirely. But I imagine it’s different for everyone.
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