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John Carmack Pushes Out Unlocked OS for Defunct Oculus Go Headset

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday October 24 2021, @09:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the root dept.

Freeman writes:

John Carmack pushes out unlocked OS for defunct Oculus Go headset:

Oculus may have officially discontinued its low-end Oculus Go headset last year, but the company has one more "official" update to help future-proof the hardware. On Thursday, Oculus released an unlocked build of the Oculus Go operating system, allowing for "full root access" on more than 2 million existing units.

Oculus CTO (and former id Software co-founder) John Carmack announced his plans for this update last month, saying it was something he had "been pushing on for years." In part, the unlocking is an attempt to guarantee that Go hardware will continue to be fully functional well into the future, allowing for "a randomly discovered shrink wrapped headset twenty years from now [to] be able to update to the final software version, long after over-the-air update servers have been shut down," Carmack wrote.

Before that, though, the update will allow tinkerers to "repurpose the hardware for more things today," as Carmack puts it.

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Opportunist on Sunday October 24 2021, @11:51AM (2 children)

    by Opportunist (5545) on Sunday October 24 2021, @11:51AM (#1190057)

    That makes the old Occulus more valuable than the new one that's still forcing you to create a Facebook account to make it work.

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  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday October 24 2021, @12:48PM

    by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Sunday October 24 2021, @12:48PM (#1190065) Homepage
    Which makes me wonder whether this will be reversed by fiat when the implications are worked out, as they'd be too blinkered to realise that there was a quick and simple, and obvious, way to make the new Occulus more valuable than the old one again.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Marand on Monday October 25 2021, @02:54AM

    by Marand (1081) on Monday October 25 2021, @02:54AM (#1190255) Journal

    Unfortunately, the Oculus Go only has 3DoF tracking (compared to other headsets' 6DoF tracking) so it's not particularly useful for most VR uses. I'd rather see the first-gen Quest get this same treatment since it's a much more competent bit of hardware; it's no longer available for purchase and they've already started leaving it out of new game releases, so it's only a matter of time before it ends up unsupported by everything as well.

    Wouldn't be surprised if Facebook blocks Carmack from releasing an unlock for it when that happens, though, because there's greater risk of an unlocked Quest eating into their profits than an unlocked Go.