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It's hard to wear a VR headset for long periods. I use one(Quest 2) for gaming quite a bit, and the bulk gives you a bit of strain after a couple of hours of constant use.
Physically it doesn’t work: The headset is too clunky and heavy still, after a few hours you get a sore neck and I have trouble with lack of airflow on my skin (where it contacts my face gets sweaty and irritated after long periods) More importantly: the resolution is too small. Using an IDE to edit text inside VR technically works, but the font size has to be so huge because the resolution inside is so poor, coding…
You can comfortably work in VR, but the trick is that you can't use any of the headsets as is. There are upgrades that you really need: A better head strap, ideally one with an adjustment knob at the back to easily loosen and tighten the headset. Also one with an extra battery that both gives you longer unplugged time but more importantly balances the headset front to back. And a better headset/face interface. You ca…
My main issue is using a keyboard while in vr. Feels like a keyboard that senses when fingers are near would be useful, so you know what key you are about to press. Most of the time i can tell particularly if i am used to that keyboard but sometimes its trial and error. That or accessible hand gloves. I suppose brain impulse reading is still far off as that would solve most input issues with vr.
The quest now has a feature whre it can passthrough a user defined portion of the bottom of the screen so that you can see your desk while in VR. You can also passthrough physical items such as just a keyboard and a cup or everything bar your virtual screens in apps such as immersed.
Have you ever used VR and tried to read small text? Feels like we're still far from from minimum viable resolution for that to me.
For more discussion, here's a list of HN threads on the Simula One: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=simulavr.com. The most recent one discusses a comparison between the Simula One and the Quest Pro (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33318956).
Pros of the Simula One: it offers native VR computing (i.e. you put on the headset, turn it on, and get see an uncapped number of your Linux Desktop apps running in front of you). Compare this to the Questo Pro, which for VR Desktop provides WiFi streamed screens from your laptop (placing latency and bandwidth constraints on what you can do, and capping the number of screens you can use to 5).
Cons of the Simula One: it's still in preorder phase, and has a target ship date of ~Q2 2023. Our small scale makes the cost of the headset pretty high (though to be fair we're putting very premium specs into it).
> I am comfortable with at least two 27" monitors. I embraced a single-monitor workflow early in my career after experimenting and finding that having multiple monitors often makes me less productive than just switching workspaces with ⌘+tab. Now it's extended to a single-laptop workflow that's given me incredible flexibility to travel and move around the office. When do people really need multiple monitors? My only…
IMO, assuming OP is using this setup for software development, it has to be a very specific short feedback loop to really justify 2 monitors, something that can't easily tested as part of a test suite such as layout testing which might require specific resolution and thus either constant switching or two monitors. I can't think of many other situation, even in web development, when one cannot make a good use window managers and testing components in isolation to avoid constant switching.
Despite having used 2 monitors in the past on occasion, I found that I've only used it to compensate for not taking the time to perfect my workflow or test-suite in such way that would allow me to be productive.
The only real use case where I can now personally justify the usage of two monitors is for in-person pair-programming: mirroring the display allows both participants to position themselves in front of the monitor rather than at an odd angle which over time strains both necks and eyes. Yet both can sit close enough to allow effective face-to-face communication.
> Is it comfortable for longer periods of time? Absolutely no > How is it on the eyes? Like staring at a tv from 4cm away for extend periods of time
This just isn't true, optics really do work, the focal point is not close to your face and it doesn't feel or effect you like the screen is close to your face in anyway.
I used a Quest 2 once at a conference exhibit booth demo -- so maybe 10 mins max in the headset, probably less -- and it left me dizzy, disoriented, and unable to focus my eyes correctly for at least as long after taking it off. Had to sit on the floor in the exhibit hall to clear my head.
> I am comfortable with at least two 27" monitors. I embraced a single-monitor workflow early in my career after experimenting and finding that having multiple monitors often makes me less productive than just switching workspaces with ⌘+tab. Now it's extended to a single-laptop workflow that's given me incredible flexibility to travel and move around the office. When do people really need multiple monitors? My only…
In webdev using a framework with HMR having VS Code on one screen and the browser on another is a lot more productive than having to Alt/⌘+tab to see changes. There are many more similar use cases.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Additionally, it would be great if one could try the software with already owned VR headsets, without having to buy their hardware before.
Their software is open source : https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula However it looks like they are more focused on hardware than software right now
If you don't have one of those headsets, there are some videos of people (whom we have no affiliation with) on YouTube testing it out: https://youtu.be/8gVLF8SnK84?t=424 Here's also (a pretty old) video of me hacking on Simula, in Simula: https://youtu.be/FWLuwG91HnI.
It's also true that we're more focused on hardware right now. We plan on reverting more towards software development in 2023. For more details: https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula/issues/180#issuecomment-1...
Some things we have planned to implement include VR window tiling and some other UI stuff.