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Baseline hardware requirements to run the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset have been determined. They recommend a NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD Radeon R9 290 equivalent or greater GPU, an Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater CPU, 8 GB RAM, 2x USB 3.0 ports and "HDMI 1.3 video output supporting a 297 MHz clock via a direct output architecture."
Oculus chief architect Atman Binstock explains: "On the raw rendering costs: a traditional [1920×1080] game at 60 Hz requires 124 million shaded pixels per second. In contrast, the Rift runs at 2160×1200 at 90 Hz split over dual displays, consuming 233 million pixels per second. At the default eye-target scale, the Rift's rendering requirements go much higher: around 400 million shaded pixels per second. This means that by raw rendering costs alone, a VR game will require approximately 3x the GPU power of 1080p rendering." He also points out that PC graphics can afford a fluctuating frame rate — it doesn't matter too much if it bounces between 30-60 fps. The Rift has no such luxury, however.
The last requirement is more onerous: Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 or newer. Binstock says their development for OS X and Linux has been "paused" so they can focus on delivering content for Microsoft Windows. They have no timeline for going back to the less popular platforms.
Are there any good alternatives that make use of a more open GPU (say, from Intel) from a VR manufacturer that provides proper support for FOSS platforms? Even better would be if the RAM requirement were lower, and something other than USB were used, perhaps Ethernet. And an alternative to HDMI that doesn't require a 10,000 US$ fee per manufacturer, regardless if you make 10 circuits or 100,000.
Tom's Hardware and Anandtech.
(Score: 5, Informative) by opinionated_science on Saturday May 16 2015, @09:37PM
Are you are a troll? It has been contained in the numerous comments by active developers that there has been increasing "blobing".
Nvidia is guilty enough with their drivers, but at least they *try* and provide parity between linux, mac and M$.
AMD has lost the plot, but are trying to get some FOSS organised.
Oculus sold out. I don't care about the kickstarter angle, but publicly announcing "windoze only" is "fuck off" to the many people who support them, and specifically damages the attempt to liberalise the game playing platforms. It narrows the market.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 16 2015, @09:42PM
No, he's obviously not a "troll", you freak. Are you the one who has been abusing the "Troll" mod lately?
You're really coming off as some sort of a kook. All of these false accusations you keep on leveling make us question your mental abilities and stability.
(Score: 2) by wantkitteh on Sunday May 17 2015, @05:00PM
Dial down the "bitter" there dude, Nvidia and AMD are under no obligations to even release graphics drivers for Linux, let alone let Joe Public read the source code. Be thankful they even bothered to do it - there were probably far more profitable things they could have done with the engineers tied up on those projects, unless Steam Machines take off in a big way, of course.
Also, read the article before you go off on one and sound like an idiot - it never said Windows only:
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @12:04AM
They're under no obligation to even release graphics drivers for Windows or OS X, either - and if they don't make decent drivers for the platform I want, I'm free to tell them to fuck off while I go buy from their competitors.
That doesn't mean I have to like it when people that make good hardware refuse to release drivers and refuse to release enough documentation for me to make the drivers on my own. I have every right to complain about it, just as they have every right to ignore me.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Monday May 18 2015, @04:12PM
I am not bitter, that's just the taste of experience. Like cheap coffee.
They may not say "Windows only" but "Windows first" since Windows is the incumbent monopoly, is effectively the same. You are welcome to disagree but deflection looks bad for you.
If Nvidia and AMD released full hardware details, I would not expect them to release drivers, but the corporate need for control forbids this.
As it is Nvidia has put some effort to get their hardware to work properly, though there is someway to go. AMD has had awful drivers but are trying revive with FOSS.
Thank you for the ad hominem, I now know I do not feel compelled to take the comment seriously, but at least you were not anon....
(Score: 2) by wantkitteh on Tuesday May 19 2015, @08:55AM
Redefining "Windows first" to mean "Windows only" is reaching, plain and simple. "Windows only for at least a year", that I can get on board with. With the SDKs already out for Mac and Linux, writing off any possibility of Mac and Linux support in the future is pure cynicism.
To be honest, I don't understand the whole furore around the lack of manufacturer-written open source Linux graphics drivers from AMD and Nvidia. I'm building a budget gaming rig at the moment; having no desire to blow 30% of the budget on a Windows license, I'll be installing Ubuntu on it. I also have an old AMD 7850 I'm recycling from an old folding rig, so I'm fairly invested in AMD's driver performance right now. However, personally I don't care whether the driver is open source or not as long as I get reasonable performance out of the hardware with it. Of course, that's just me - I'm certain there are plenty of other considerations that other people have for preferring/requiring open source drivers, but I just don't see them from where I am. Open to explanations though, always interested to learn stuff like this.
And... what ad hominem? You want a character attack, I could actually insult you rather than implying possibilities ;)
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Tuesday May 19 2015, @05:16PM
Quote "Also, read the article before you go off on one and sound like an idiot - it never said Windows only:".
I consider that ad hominem. I read the article and countered I had also read the comments on other sites, and this announcement was not isolated. Your assertion therefore was incorrect...
I do not expect manufacturers to write code. I expect them to write coherent specs so 3rd parties can. Oculus has taken it upon themselves to keep it all in house, therefore they have to write the code.
Saying "Windows first" is effectively "Windows Only" because it benefits only Windows for that to be true as the specs are isolated to Windows developers. This is not paranoia this is empirically true.
I don't want FOSS for FOSS sake, but being sold HARDWARE that CANNOT be used without it, puts the onus on the hardware manufacturer. And it supports the status quo, which is "Windows only".
Just because the industry has been distorted by Microsoft so that drivers were preferentially written *solely* for Windows, does not mean this is the preferred or beneficial state for us all.
I too just want stuff to work, but this is a "new" thing that has not yet become established and so these early "battles" can have an effect later on.