Today, we are very excited to announce a new open source project which enables interaction with traditional desktop environments, such as GNOME and KDE, in VR. Sponsored by Valve, xrdesktop makes window managers aware of VR and is able to use VR runtimes to render desktop windows in 3D space, with the ability of manipulating them with VR controllers and generating mouse and keyboard input from VR.
At least the time Valve isn’t spending on making the Steam client not suck or, you know, games, is spent on something worthwhile – improving often neglected aspects of the Linux world.
I was initially excited about the potential of VR a few years back when it first started making a big hit and I was able to get an inexpensive VR headset to fit my phone. But that excitement was for anticipation of potential vast ergonomic potential of VR for desktop organization and turned to disappointment when I realized all the development was for games and VR videos and animations. I could care less about those things, but the idea of being able to work – to do coding and systems administration in a VR enhanced workspace is exciting. And it seems like it would be a lot simpler to do than games, video, and animation so it was a surprise that it wasn’t already done. Hopefully now there will be some progress.
Anyone ever install a 3D desktop? I had one that was like doom, that you went down these maze that represented the hierarchy of files and you could shoot to select. It was really tedious way of finding and organizing things. I’ve never seen a good one. I don’t see how adding VR helps in any way.
Anyone else have a better experience with 3D desktops? And no, I don’t count compiz/ kde cube desktop layouts, You still deal with a 2-d interface most of the time,.
I had some interest in them during the XP days, but when it comes down to it an insane amount of fine tuning is needed just for your regular desktop to be a smooth experience. Plus fundamentally computer interfaces are truly designed to replace a desk, hence it’s called a desktop and stuck in 2D form. Making the interface 3D just ends up creating more problems than it can solve.
I really liked bumptop and project lookingglass. the first was more limited, and the second, though bigger in scale, was a little buggier and only worked on certain hardware if i remembered it correctly.
If you think the Steam client sucks, you’d better not try any others. Steam is head and shoulders over the competition. I can just imagine what you’d say about EPIC’s client, or Bethesda’s. 😀
To be clear, *all* desktops are in need of more than a minor facelift of wallpaper or icons. We need a metaphor shift and this just may be it. I’m hopeful.
Why?
I’d love to hear a serious & convincing answer to your question. I won’t be holding my breath waiting, but I’d love to hear one.
This is how we got kde 4, gnome3, unity, and windows 8. In the end I don’t think they were that much of an improvement. Or at least they had to be tamed for a while to get somewhere useful again.
Different doesn’t automatically mean better.
>2019-07-31 4:49 pm
>Foma the Gnomish Bard
>
>To be clear, *all* desktops are in need of more >than a minor facelift of wallpaper or icons. We >need a metaphor shift and this just may be it. >I’m hopeful.
>
God. Will you people just follow the lemmings off the edge of a cliff?
Isn’t Gnome 3 already awful enough for you?