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I ditched my laptop for a pocketable mini PC and a pair of AR glasses
141–150 of 233 posts
Re: I ditched my laptop for a pocketable mini PC and a pair of AR glasses
#142I tried this with the Viture Pro XR glasses last year and it sucks. Can't use it with Linux, except in dumb monitor mode. No head tracking unless you're using a supported OS. Android app sucks becaus you can't use it with any old app, eg productivity apps (their app is like a demo of head tracking that only supports stuff like YouTube and local media). Maybe I should have purchased the Xreals?
The first gen XReal glasses are similar in that you need software running on the host to get anything other than dumb monitor mode. With these newer models they've moved a bunch of the functionality into hardware on the glasses themselves, so you get virtual monitor and wider device support out of the box. There are a couple of projects that are trying to get better open source support of the Airs on linux; I've not…
I really liked the new Xreal glasses because of the built-in head tracking. But I was getting a lot of drift over time such that after anywhere between a few minutes and maybe half an hour, the center of the screen wouldn't be straight ahead anymore. Meaning I would need to reset the display location far too often. I ended up returning them because of it.
Re: I ditched my laptop for a pocketable mini PC and a pair of AR glasses
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
The open-source Breezy GNOME is worth a try. It has head tracking and multi-monitor in beta with GNOME DE. https://github.com/wheaney/breezy-desktop
open source that requires a commercial license. and the drivers link to a repo that 404. think i will pass.
It gets even worse, looks like their driver makes calls to google analytics.[1] I'd stay away. The README doesn't even mention it, and the promise that "your personal data will never be shared, sold, or distributed in any form." certainly sounds misleading when you consider this.
[1] https://github.com/wheaney/XRLinuxDriver/blob/main/src/plugi...
Re: I ditched my laptop for a pocketable mini PC and a pair of AR glasses
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd like to try this kind of setup (coding from a lounge chair with just a keyboard tray & trackball, yay!), "dumb monitor" would be sufficient - but since switching to high-DPI displays in 2016 I really need this to be 4K.
If your monitor keeps following your head movements, even teeny tiny ones, it gets annoying very fast.
Yep, can't get past it
Re: I ditched my laptop for a pocketable mini PC and a pair of AR glasses
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
The first gen XReal glasses are similar in that you need software running on the host to get anything other than dumb monitor mode. With these newer models they've moved a bunch of the functionality into hardware on the glasses themselves, so you get virtual monitor and wider device support out of the box. There are a couple of projects that are trying to get better open source support of the Airs on linux; I've not…
Waiting for the XReal One Pro to vibe code using Aider and Samsung DeX in a Termux terminal while walking my countries national parks (just something I would like to try)
I tried something like that 2 decades ago with a 640x480 monocular strapped to my sunglasses, with interpolation i could use a 1024x768 resolution in combination with a arm based pocketpc with host usb and compactflash video-out.
I used it for reading and 'fast' offline wikipedia/tr3 database search with both frogpad and twiddler2 and some voice commands.
The problem is that you can see the foreground and depth ok as the monocular screen on my left eye 'merged' semi-transparently due to brain processing. I assume this is a bit worse on the XReal. The main issue was that when walking you make a slight sinus wave up and down compared to the foreground. You don't notice this usually, but with a paragraph of text or code positioned in front of your eyes it becomes very distracting.
One solution, using a mode of transport that doesn't involve moving up and down slightly, for example using a bicycle or car for transportation. In both circumstances, the latter being the most problematic, it's not advisable safety wise (or even illegal) and a screenreader solution is better. I had the idea of using Emacsspeak for this, or do a smart speakup echo from the commandline.
Another solution is using RSVP, or using both RSVP and text to speech. Samsung DeX is great though, Motorola, Huawai and recent Android have support for desktop mode too (if the phone supports video-out).
Re: I ditched my laptop for a pocketable mini PC and a pair of AR glasses
#146Sounds like sponsored content. Every other review I have read people say they go back to laptop because the text fidelity, eye strain and keyboard on lap is just the best productivity setup
I really, really wanted the SimulaVR headset to work out because of th attention they were paying to text rendering. The hardware feels dead but the virtual desktop project might still have legs: https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula
As far as eye strain goes, I think there's room for argument: having virtual screens cinema-screen-distance away from you is less straining than something under a meter away, but only if the text rendering is up to the job.
Re: I ditched my laptop for a pocketable mini PC and a pair of AR glasses
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
That was also my first thought when reading the title. But then looking at it, these just look like any regular sunglasses. Maybe slightly more bulky, but there are plenty of people wearing 'designer' sunglasses bigger than that. This is already a huge step up from full head units like Quest/VisionPro/etc. Just remember that only a couple of years ago that Apple introduced the wireless earbuds and people also thought…
I wouldn't do it, personally, and that would be one of the main reasons. It says more about me than about the idea itself though. I would love it for the ergonomics. If it's not too hard on the eyes I would consider it at home.
The real win for me is being able to work outside in full sunlight, without having to care about screen glare. I have used them in the office and in coffee shops but that's almost incidental.
Re: I ditched my laptop for a pocketable mini PC and a pair of AR glasses
#148I tried this with the Viture Pro XR glasses last year and it sucks. Can't use it with Linux, except in dumb monitor mode. No head tracking unless you're using a supported OS. Android app sucks becaus you can't use it with any old app, eg productivity apps (their app is like a demo of head tracking that only supports stuff like YouTube and local media). Maybe I should have purchased the Xreals?
I'd like to try this kind of setup (coding from a lounge chair with just a keyboard tray & trackball, yay!), "dumb monitor" would be sufficient - but since switching to high-DPI displays in 2016 I really need this to be 4K.
I did this with nreal air glasses (now xreal air), specifically for coding. Most uses cases for these type of glasses is around media consumption, so I was taking a bit of a leap when doing it for coding/heavy text usage.
There are two modes. One is fixed so that the virtual monitor stays in one spot on the lenses. The single virtual monitor stays directly in front of you. The other is floating, which basically keeps the virtual monitor in one spot and you can turn your head to look away. This mode also lets you set up 3 virtual monitors side by side so you can turn to look at them. It uses head tracking to basically shift the image in the opposite direction you turn your head.
In both cases, the screen does move, and this is super relevant when looking at text and down at status bars. The fixed one is better because it moves relative to your head, but both cases have some amount of jitter. I found the best case coding scenario is the fixed monitor (no head tracking), and being in a seat wth head rest and you can press your head back into it. This minimizes your head movement, which minimizes how much the text moves about. The downside is that we're used to looking up and down at the screen, so you want to set the monitor at a proper distance so you can look up and down with just your eyes. You really want to shrink the monitor to a size close to that of a laptop.
I ultimately ended up not liking the experience very much. No matter what, you're gonna end up with some amount of text movement. There is also a bit of light saturation bleed through (old CRT style). Putting the blackout blinders on helps a lot, but the projected nature remains an issue. Essentially only usable long term in a recliner or a car seat with headrest. Unlike the author, I am using a work provided laptop and I have that with me anyways. There was coolness to leaving the laptop in my backpack and just bringing the glasses up via wire - but to actually do anything, I need a keyboard. Which means taking along a Lenovo's thinkpoint trackpad keyboard (really great backpack keyboard); or pulling out the laptop.
The newer ones, like Xreal One from the article might be a better experience. A coworker had the air 2 pros and used them for travel. He said he didn't really notice the things I did, so maybe it was a improved experience even with that version. But he mostly worked in office documents and only occasional terminal work. When traveling and using the glasses, it was almost all "office docs", and only for short periods of time. For me - I am going to wait and be a slow adopter to move to a new version.
Re: I ditched my laptop for a pocketable mini PC and a pair of AR glasses
#149I thought it would be a mini laptop like these: https://gpdstore.net/product-category/gpd-mini-laptop/ But no, he carries around a little Nuc style machine and a full, separate keyboard and charger. It's cool and all, but there's no way this whole jumble would fit in a pocket or be convenient to use on the go.
Truly, it should have been a smartphone, their performant today is better than my 10 years old (totally fine) desktop
Re: I ditched my laptop for a pocketable mini PC and a pair of AR glasses
#150Can AR glasses be used as just a monitor? I am under the impression that they are sort of smart devices. How do they get a video signal from the computer?
VR headsets are usually quite smart. For better or for worse - and I personally think it's very much for the better - many AR glasses are a DisplayPort monitor that you wear on your face. They have inertial sensors and speakers, but the interface to the PC is Displayport-over-USBC for video to the glasses, USB Audio Class for the speakers, and usually a proprietary USB peripheral for the inertial measurements. Some A…
The position measurements on the XReal Air are indeed on a custom USB device, but it's been reverse engineered. You can slurp the positioning data off without too much hassle.