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Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

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Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#161

Post by month13 »

ravenstine wrote: post #81
georgewsinger wrote: post #9

In case people are curious what it's like to work in VR, here's a demo of me using Simula: https://youtu.be/FWLuwG91HnI I would argue that working in VR is fundamentally superior to working in PCs/laptops. It's basically 10x the screens, focus, and work immersion. Simula's text quality is also very good (getting around the eye fatigue present in older VR Desktops).

> It's basically 10x the screens, Holy crap, I never thought of it that way! Anyone know if this is possible with macOS?

There is [ImmersedVR](https://immersedvr.com/), but it's expensive and only compatible with the Oculus Go/Quest.

It can create extra displays, but you have to buy an Elite license for that.

Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#162

Post by philsnow »

greggman3 wrote: post #149
thcleaner999 wrote: post #62

How change would it require to run on MacOS?

It would require Apple it care about VR and gaming and VR capable GPUs. Except for a MacPro, no Apple devices are powerful enough for VR. Even the top end MacBookPro at $19000 still has an underpowered GPU below the lowest VR specs.

That top end MBP has four thunderbolt 3 ports; have you tried any of the egpu setups? (I haven't, but I've been thinking about it for my 5th gen x1 carbon with thunderbolt 3)

Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#163

Post by llarsson »

georgewsinger wrote: post #9

In case people are curious what it's like to work in VR, here's a demo of me using Simula: https://youtu.be/FWLuwG91HnI I would argue that working in VR is fundamentally superior to working in PCs/laptops. It's basically 10x the screens, focus, and work immersion. Simula's text quality is also very good (getting around the eye fatigue present in older VR Desktops).

I love the little joke that you ran "top" in the window that you had to look toward the ceiling to see. :)

Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#165

Post by stewbrew »

georgewsinger wrote: post #9

In case people are curious what it's like to work in VR, here's a demo of me using Simula: https://youtu.be/FWLuwG91HnI I would argue that working in VR is fundamentally superior to working in PCs/laptops. It's basically 10x the screens, focus, and work immersion. Simula's text quality is also very good (getting around the eye fatigue present in older VR Desktops).

Cool demo. But wouldn't it be better (for your neck) to move the screen instead of moving your head? Or both? I guess sooner or later it's going to hurt the way it is implemented now.

Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#166

Post by greggman3 »

mjcohen wrote: post #160
greggman3 wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would require Apple it care about VR and gaming and VR capable GPUs. Except for a MacPro, no Apple devices are powerful enough for VR. Even the top end MacBookPro at $19000 still has an underpowered GPU below the lowest VR specs.

The highest possible price for a MacBook Pro is US $6099. How do you get $19000? The iMac Pro can get to $14,299.

Sorry, bad memory. Still that's beside the point. The point is Apple so far is neither game nor VR friendly. I hope they change that stance. I'd prefer to be on Mac 100% of the time but I have a Windows machine as well because that's basically where all VR is happening.

Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#167

Post by tyrust »

ken wrote: post #156
tyrust wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Programmers work with text and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Terminal based editors are powerful, so properly displaying terminal is a great goal. What would a non-rectangular UI for manipulating text look like?

> Programmers work with text and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Programmers work with 2D overlapping windows and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. I'm giving a criterion for when that's going to change. They're connected. You can't beat a 2D display for displaying 2D data. > What would a non-rectangular UI for manipulating text look like? Looked at a DOM Inspector recently (HTML)?…

I don't really do much frontend web programming, so those examples don't resonate much with me. I see your point, though, with your last examples.

It's still very difficult for me to imagine how I would translate interfaces I'm used to into another dimension. Even if I picture something floating in front of me, I only perceive a 2D projection of it. Perhaps with clever transparency or by rotating it around I could receive more information than I would in 2D.

I feel like a character in Flatland, I stuck in my own dimension.

Re: Simula: A VR window manager for Linux

#168

Post by ggreer »

philsnow wrote: post #158
hello_there wrote: post #43

This looks very nice! I've been thinking about something like this for quite a while. May I suggest two additional features that I would love to see in such a window manager: 1. A way to neatly arrange all the windows on a virtual sphere that surrounds the user, possibly arranging them automatically in a similar manner as a tiling window manager. 2. A way to rotate the before-mentioned sphere around you without forci…

> 2. A way to rotate the before-mentioned sphere around you without forcing the user to rotate it's head. This would avoid much of the neck strain. It could be done by, for example, holding a button on the keyboard while moving the mouse or by a simple keyboard shortcut to rotate the sphere by X degrees in any direction. one more thing for the author to play around with (I don't have the hardware to try it myself) is…

> It might cause motion sickness, but maybe you can get away with pitching/yawing 5 degrees for every 1 degree of head movement, so to look "straight up" you only have to tilt your head up 18 degrees.

That would cause extreme motion sickness.

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