Edit for TL;DR as this became lengthy : agreed, do NOT buy “an expensive Facebook paperweight” but also, open source VR exists today! Depending on your definition and needs, there is a lot that can be done and you can help.
Rooting isn’t open source…
Anyway Valve Index runs perfectly on Linux, that’s how I finished Half-life: Alyx. I also do already have a rooted Lynx XR1 and a Project NorthStar which is open hardware (even though not OSHW iirc).
browser like Wolvic (with Gecko and now Chromium backend) with cross-platform supports with WebXR
streaming from desktop to standalone HMDs e.g. WiVRn or ALVR
some distributions have dedicated documentation e.g. NixOS for desktop and PostMarketsOS mobile
plenty of tools that run on standalone HMDs as most are “just” Android devices, e.g. termux letting you install NodeJS then run your own on device Web server to code on device, standalone, offline, alternative launchers e.g. LightningLauncher, removing some telemetry and plenty more I’m not even aware of.
The Index and the Quest are entirely different things.
The index is a monitor with sensors attached to it.
The Quest is a proprietary PC with an ecosystem, DRM and billion dollar company backing.
Rooting isn’t open source They don’t have anything to do with each other other than the fact that you don’t need to root open source devices. They lock us out of root because they don’t want us to control our own devices, They want us to use their stores, they’re walled gardens, and their support for everything which is very un-open source.
My point behind touting an open source mobile VR device would be that it would not need to be rooted.
I looked at the hardware you mentioned and while the open stuff looks very nice it looks very not available for anyone to purchase. Do you expect any of that hardware to be more available soon?
Edit for TL;DR as this became lengthy : agreed, do NOT buy “an expensive Facebook paperweight” but also, open source VR exists today! Depending on your definition and needs, there is a lot that can be done and you can help.
Rooting isn’t open source…
Anyway Valve Index runs perfectly on Linux, that’s how I finished Half-life: Alyx. I also do already have a rooted Lynx XR1 and a Project NorthStar which is open hardware (even though not OSHW iirc).
There are also :
IMHO one of the best resource covering that and more is https://lvra.gitlab.io/
So… I’m a bit confused, maybe I misunderstood, what did you mean by being “a decade too early”? Which functionality specifically is missing today?
The Index and the Quest are entirely different things.
The index is a monitor with sensors attached to it.
The Quest is a proprietary PC with an ecosystem, DRM and billion dollar company backing.
Rooting isn’t open source They don’t have anything to do with each other other than the fact that you don’t need to root open source devices. They lock us out of root because they don’t want us to control our own devices, They want us to use their stores, they’re walled gardens, and their support for everything which is very un-open source.
My point behind touting an open source mobile VR device would be that it would not need to be rooted.
I looked at the hardware you mentioned and while the open stuff looks very nice it looks very not available for anyone to purchase. Do you expect any of that hardware to be more available soon?