Nice! Maybe it’s time for my bi-annual “does my Vive work on Linux now” test :)

I haven’t looked into it so I’m just speculating, but I assumed Meta is selling their headsets at a loss to get users into their ecosystem, while Valve would want to make some profit from each sale. Looking at other high end PC VR headsets from Pimax, Varjo and HTC they also tend to be on the pricier side. The Deck was IMO surprisingly cheap, but I guess Valve probably thinks that it’ll lead to more games sold on Steam, even though it isn’t locked into the platform. Of course it would have been nice if Deckard was cheaper but I think €1200 is reasonable in this day and age. Though personally I think I would’ve preferred if it didn’t have standalone capabilities, if that had made it a few hundred cheaper…

I think there’s been a lot of inflation since the Index was released. As a very crude comparison, the Index was released roughly in between Nvidia’s 20- and 30-series, and it seems like launch MSRPs have gone up 30-40% for the current 40- and 50-series. So if Valve only increases their VR headsets by 10% in the same time period, it could be seen as having become relatively cheaper :)

Still just unconfirmed “leaks”, a.k.a. rumours, but according to this article on uploadvr it sounds like people are claiming that it’s going to be a standalone headset.

Personally I’ve pretty adamant that I’d prefer a PC VR headset, since I already own a powerful gaming computer. But on the other hand, SteamVR always had so poor performance in Linux for me, so it is the one thing I still dual boot for.

I think it’s a bit unfortunate wording which makes it sound like the Vive was developed by HTC and Valve just adopted it. Valve did a lot of VR research, produced several headset prototypes, and invented key technologies like the Lighthouse tracking in the years before they announced their partnership with HTC. I’m sure HTC contributed regarding turning a prototype into a consumer product and mass producing it, but I think Valve could just as well have taken their VR tech to Samsung, Lenovo, or someone else and have them produce the Vive if they had been interested.

I think this is for the games where you turn using a thumbstick or similar, and wouldn’t otherwise rotate physically.

I looked into getting a sim rig for vr since i get motion sick from driving/flying games, and saw several people saying that unless both the rig movement and headset tracking are extremely precise it will make motion sickness worse in vr. I guess something similar would be true for rotating chairs

As a programmer (though not in the games industry) I can inform you that the vast majority of sw companies operate by the “the fastest solution is the best solution” principle. If they have developers who already know Unity it’s a pretty big expense to have everybody learn a new game engine, and the management would need to be convinced that using Source is going to lead to a corresponding increase in sold copies of their games.

I mean everything is still speculation regarding the Index 2, there have been a few patent applications filed but noone knows for sure.

At least for the time being, Valve seems to be one of the few large corporations which most of the time seem to have customers’ best interests at heart, while other large corporations tend to have more of a history of screwing their users over every chance they get. And while SteamVR on Linux isn’t great, there are at least some efforts being made. Pimax Crystal Light seemed like another good option on paper, but there appear to be severe quality control issues at the moment, and IIRC it requires a buggy Windows-only driver to work. Somnium VR1 looks great but the price made it a no-option for me.

As far as I know there are no headsets that don’t require an account

For me the important part is that the headset doesn’t require a specific account. As long as I can use it with multiple ecosystems there isn’t a singular point of failure, for example if the manufacturer stops supporting it.

If I had to buy a headset right now then I’d be leaning towards an Index, but it’s a few years old now and price is basically unchanged (though in practice it might be seen as a relative reduction, since everything else has gone up). There’s ofc. some speculation about an Index 2, perhaps around the end of the year, but if you can’t wait a second hand Index might be a better value option than buying one new.

I read that too, but I suspect that it’s going to be a major update to the Index with a price tag to match. And if course it might take quite some time before it’s finally released, as say…

Personally I’d be happy with a minor upgrade (resolution primarily) for a lower price and sooner, if that was an option

When I first heard of the Somnium it sounded like perfect specs on paper, but when I saw the price… oof… Pimax Crystal Light has a much more attractive price, but from what I’ve read it seems to have horrible quality control and that it requires buggy proprietary software, which might mean it’ll never work on Linux.

Hope Valve could make an Index v1.5 which just has updated screens with slightly higher res and keep the the ~€1000 price for a full kit. But with the electronics shortage and inflation which happened since the Index was released it might not be possible.

Soil not draining enough perhaps? Only way we’ve managed to kill lavender is by pruning it too much.

Thanks, though it seems like the list contains corded tools and none of the models I’ve been considering. It also looks like the sheet only lists sound power level, i.e. something like overall loudness. While lower sound in general is of course good, what I’m trying to find is a drill driver that doesn’t have as high pitched sound as most 18V tools do. For example both DCD791 and DDF484 have a listed SPL of 76 dBA, but I found the noise from the DDF484 to be more annoying due to it having higher frequency.

Unfortunately (?) I live en Europe so no Lowe’s here… The only store that sell Milwaukee here is almost an hour’s drive away, and it’s a pro store so their opening hours is something like 7:30 - 16:30 Monday to Friday. Once I took a half day off to go there, but Milwaukee was the only brand I couldn’t test because they didn’t have any batteries available :/

It’s just random work in and around the house. Some times I needed a more powerful drill driver was when laying bamboo flooring (had to be screwed down) and replacing bargeboards. Projects planned for the future include removing an exterior door and rebuilding the wall, and at some point to build a new kitchen. Occasionally I have some hobby project that requires lighter drilling, e.g. building subwoofers or keyboards, or simple stuff around the house like hanging stuff on the walls or ceiling. We live in a wooden house nowadays so no concrete drilling.

I use ear protection for bigger projects, but if I didn’t have to if I’m just going to do something quick, like installing blinders in a window or hanging a painting. My first drill, a massive corded Bosch, had much less of an ear-piercing sound that the Ryobi that I have now.