Simula

I understand this viewpoint, but some counter points: 1. We originally tried raising money for this from VCs/angels, and got turned down by everyone. We also tried partnering with other headset manufacturers to help us put Simula on their headsets, and also got turned down/ignored by...everyone. So Kickstarter has allowed us to go direct to consumers to help fund it, which is a pretty cool use of the platform. 2. We're actually going to ship our headsets, leaving an extremely clear paper trail of weekly updates behind us for the duration of the whole project. I know, I know..you can't actually know this for sure just by me claiming it. But basically: we have been working on Simula for years, putting in tons and tons of sweat to get the stable Linux VR compositor we have now. Also: our software is already testable right now on older head

I wondered what they have meant when they said "Provides especially clear text quality (via our text-specialized rendering methodology)". Looking at their README [1], it looks to be texture filtering done a little more properly (many implementation cheaps out with bilinear interpolation, I guess). It does get rid of the aliasing artifacts, but it's still very blurry, and the look is a bit underwhelming. What I really look forward to is getting text and vector rendering done directly in the perspective transformed space, something Pathfinder [2] has demonstrated before. [1] https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula#text-quality [2] https://blog.mozvr.com/pathfinder-a-first-look/

Great points. - (A) is tractable, and will be placed on our queue. - RE (B): Simula has developed a special text filter to help improve its text quality. See https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula#text-quality for a demonstration. As you point out though, there are even deeper things that can be done. We have considered making a vector-based based terminal before (in which text is rendered on a vector basis). - (D) is a point brought up by Forrest Reiling in his master's thesis on window managers (which influenced Simula's early founding). See [Toward General Purpose 3D User Interfaces: Extending Windowing Systems to Three Dimensions](https://github.com/evil0sheep/MastersThesis/blob/master/thes...).

Another founder here, with some more comments on the tech side of things: 1. The software is relatively usable, and you can try it out right now on https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula 2. The hardware is still being worked on, and the website is kind of a list of expected specs/placeholder in that regard: 2.a. The compute unit is tested and works, but requires a custom carrier board to fit the form factor. This is a blocker for the final product, but relatively low priority for the prototype. 2.b. Lens system design is scheduled to be complete in early November, with first prototypes available in early December. We're planning to use Valve Index lenses as a stopgap right now for prototyping etc. 2.c. We're currently solving a few challenges in driving the displays, as we're pushing the boundaries of the available technology, and at our volu

Isn't this just a Desktop implementation for the SteamVR? It is even open source right here -- https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula No headset in sight, other than just "any headset".

Depends on the device you use. They seem to support a few different ones. From here: https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula it seems like anything that will run steamvr should do it.

From the wiki on their Github [1] and looking at Github contributors, this is a 3 person project (and no Github commits since June 2021). They're clearly not making their own VR headset, they're using something off the shelf (from other comments seems like an HTC Vive). Making the website ambiguous about this is just confusing. I saw a couple YC apps in there, so I'm sure they had to be ambitious, but thinking realistically there's a big difference between being: 1) A VR headset for work company 2) A VR operating system for work company 3) A window manager for VR for work company [1] https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula/wiki/Simula-Master-Plan

The current build of SimulaVR[1] does support workspaces, accessed via Super+number keyboard shortcuts. I use them like a higher-level alt+tab, to switch between a set of text editor windows (super+1) and a set of browser and terminal windows displaying test output (super+2). [1] https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula/tree/dev#usage