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Comment by zamalek | Hacker News Reader

Valve Index. I currently dual-boot Windows for VR. This is the rabbit hole I went down (to be clear: SteamVR, specifically the compositor, is completely broken).

1. Install Monado with libsurvive.

2. Discover that libsurvive doesn't have the "smarts" that SteamVR has, and that calibration can be wonky (and was wonky for me).

3. Learn that you can import SteamVR calibration data. I can't do this in Linux because, well, SteamVR doesn't work.

4. Dual boot Windows with the intention to copy over calibration data.

5. Windows is installed. Give up and dual boot.

https://monado.freedesktop.org/libsurvive.html

If anyone else has had success, I would love to hear about it.

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Well, I got Monado and libsurvive running some time ago (Valve Index, X11, Nvidia), even for Beat Saber. It sadly was unplayable, because reflections were wrong in VR apps, it felt like both eyes using the same reflection angle instead of adjusting it to each eye. For close objects this was bearable, anything further away would look "wrong" and cause VR sickness. Also the FoV was wrong, it felt like a vignette around the screen edges, a good bit narrower than in SteamVR. Oh yeah, and the latest version did not build for me, used a previous one.

Performance, especially in Beat Saber, was great and better than SteamVR!

I would expect SteamVR to at least work enough for calibration. You could try switching to beta or other versions.

I don't understand why Valve of all companies isn't supporting Linux here.

My guess is they focus on Proton for Steam Deck, which can not run VR comfortably (but, it can run it via USB-C docks/dongles, the power of a full Linux PC!). So we get constantly better Proton compatibility, including work on anti cheats, but VR is low to no priority. The market is pretty small, especially if you mostly worry about Index and related PC-tethered headsets. Also developing VR for Linux can't be an easy task.

I am especially annoyed that they more or less dropped the ball when it comes to Beat Saber via Proton. Beat Saber was an official launch title for Proton, but was unplayable for months [1].

[1] https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/6638

Well, or someone could create a cardboard like holder for the Steam Deck! ;)

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