I'm very curious what the details are. A Linux Vision Pro sounds very enticing. It could be a lot of fun for inventing new user interaction modalities.

I think you probably need to understand the underpinnings of what Valve accomplished over the past few years to understand why the Frame is useful.

Essentially, it's a Deck strapped to your face. Same OS, same everything, just different hardware platform.

Valve spent the time to revamp SteamOS in order to make it more portable to various devices, which are now launching. Couple that with their efforts on Proton, and you have an entire ecosystem with very little in the way of preventing people from adopting these devices with their ease of use.

Steam Deck was just sort of the appetizer and test launch to gauge interest and build a fully functional hardware development and support vertical in the company, and it was wildly successful. I guarantee (if they can get the price right) that the Frame will sell WAY more units than the awful Vision Pro. I honestly think people might adopt this over buying another version of the Deck if it's comfortable.

Some things I expect to happen with the Frame launch:

• A more expanded integration of Desktop features. If Valve doesn't do it, the community will.
• Virtual screen management
• Theater mode for viewing media
• Virtualized VR input (like steam-input but VR)
• Pairing capabilities for multiplayer
• Half-Life 3 release (not joking)

insinuation

The website says 🎉:

Steam Machine is optimized for gaming, but it's still your PC. Install your own apps, or even another operating system. Who are we to tell you how to use your computer?

OS: SteamOS 3 (Arch-based)

Desktop: KDE Plasma

To further give hope: The Quest 3 is basically a PC strapped to your face. The only thing really limiting you from installing and running whatever you want is the software/OS. It looks like the Frame will be running the same OS as the Deck, so I am super excited as a Quest 3 owner because the Meta Horizon OS sucks and they keep making it even shittier (I can't do anything I was doing with my headset when I got it now other than running normal shit; no custom software can be sideloaded anymore so all my FOSS programs are vaporized 😮‍💨).

I’m hoping it won’t cost the earth.

I am salivating over the Frame. I was blown away by consumer VR when it came to market 10 years ago. I had access to an Oculus Rift (pre-Meta) and an HTC Vive at my job. They were both impressive from a technological standpoint and super fun to use.

A mere two years later, the Oculus Quest 1 arrived and I bought one immediately. Basically the full VR experience but entirely wireless. Again, I was blown away from a sheer technical standpoint. But I loathed the headset being tied to Facebook/Meta and their walled garden. It soured the entire experience for me, and it quickly began collecting dust. Even though I could stream PC games to the Quest with FOSS third party apps like ALVR, there was still the privacy aspect of "six cameras controlled by Mark Zuckerberg are looking wherever I'm looking in my house". No thanks.

The Steam Frame looks like it could reignite my interest in the VR space. I'm honestly surprised Valve has continued to invest R&D into VR well after the hype died. I'm glad they did, because the Frame looks pretty sweet so far.

Drivers.
Drivers might be closed sauce.

Let's hope it doesn't have a price tag to match the "Vision Pro" monicker.

I've had an HTC vive for like the last 7 years. I always loved it and still use it when I can. But its limitations are very obvious and the age is starting to show. I've been wanting to upgrade with an index but never found the right moment and my play time has decreased considerably.

Now this one... It looks amazing! So many improvements! And at the same time a bit scary, can the streaming work well enough? I haven't had great experience with it but have never really needed it either. That dongle looks like a must. Will the tracking be good enough without the external lighthouses? That would be a great improvement in play area for me if so. The battery seems like a risk factor too but I'm far less worried about that.

And finally the one thing that has me raising my eyebrows in confusion, what is it with the controllers? They seem okayish enough for normal gaming in the headset and OK enough for tracking them... But it seems like a regression from the index controllers with finger tracking and no need to constantly hold it grabbing onto it thanks to the straps. I wonder if the index ones would still be the best for proper VR gaming. And with the steam controller also being tracked, I'd rather use that for any other gaming.

Overall I'm excited and I might jump at the opportunity of finally upgrading the vive but quite a few questions remain to be solved. Too important questions for buying it right away when released.

The one thing I’m worried about is if their streaming usb dongle thing will work with a Linux machine. I’m assuming that they’ll have total compatibility, but idk, lol

https://simulavr.com/

Not a gaming focused headset. Might be of interest to you.