GNU/Linux plans?

There is no need for custom driver features on GNU/Linux. X11 already works fine for setting up "direct mode" as a separate screen. See my blog post from about a year ago about this: https://codelab.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/proper-oculus-rift-dk2-setup-on-gnulinux/

Well, Valve seems to think Linux support makes sense.  As do the developers of the over 4000 games on Steam with Linux support.

I can't find any official statement of Linux support from the Kickstarter campaign, although the campaign page does have the Linux logo on it.  Given that early versions of the SDK did support Linux, I was very disappointed to see it dropped.  I'll take my free CV1 and get it working somehow, but don't expect to get any more money from me until Linux support is back.  Maybe not even then if it takes long enough that I've moved to another VR platform.

Alternatively, you could go full open source with the software and let the community do the porting for you.  Aren't you a hardware company anyway?  Being the first open source VR platform could even provide you a competitive advantage.

tdb said:

Well, Valve seems to think Linux support makes sense.  As do the developers of the over 4000 games on Steam with Linux support.

Do not miss interpret valve believing. Valve conquered the PC gaming world already, it has the almost all of a giant pie and, because it cost him nothing, it can now target the crumbs. As for game with linux support, it is usually more of a faith move than a real business plan.  

Oculus will not go open source again, and don't except them to work on Linux until they crushed all the other head set and dominate the market ( will never happen )

Also eagerly waiting on Linux support. Between Linux being "paused" and Optimus support dropped, two of my options got severely diminished. I do hope that Oculus follows through and delivers on their public promise of Linux support post-launch; it would be nice to get some high level idea of timing. I like the Rift thus far, but if the Vive ends up supporting LInux first, I'll switch over in a heartbeat.

Well, the Vive has some rudimentary support but it's not completely ready yet: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/first-steps-with-openvr-and-the-vive-on-linux.7229

There's also an interesting comment: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/first-steps-with-openvr-and-the-vive-on-linux.7229#61148
"In communication with HTC support I'm been told that "HTC will investigate why Valve hasn't got Linux support as they promised"."

I do hope that Oculus follows through and delivers on their public promise of Linux support post-launch; it would be nice to get some high level idea of timing.

We didn't even get any idea of timing while Oculus had official linux support for the DK2. It was just month after month of waiting, hoping that the next SDK release would fix the major issues and start to include stuff like the unity plugin.

My opinion: I wouldn't expect anything at all from Oculus before at least CV2.

Would also love to have some minimum Linux support. But getting from "somewhere on the roadmap" to "we can re-evaluate the situation in the future to see if other operating systems make sense" is not very encouraging.
Vive did not deliver at time but there are signs that it will in foreseeable future. But regarding Rift I don't see how the situation around Linux could change in the foreseeable future to make it attractive for Oculus/Facebook.
My "free" Rift is about to arrive soon and we will have to have a serious discussion about our common future.

It would be nice to see an update on this. We're almost a year post-launch now - things are obviously up and running on Oculus's side on Windows, and SteamVR for Linux and Vive support for Linux is now officially out.

Oculus did publicly promise that Linux support would be coming post-launch, and there has been crickets chirping since on the matter. Whether Linux support ends up materializing or not will likely be the deciding factor of whether I stay with Oculus or switch to a different HMD next time around. No support makes that a definite no.

Uh huh.... I expected as much. Well, I do appreciate you at least looking into this, but, no offense, that's been the story for over a year now since Linux support vanished from the SDK. Meanwhile, your competitors do have official Linux support now. Not just HTC/Vive either - pretty much all HMDs out there (OSVR, etc). So for the time being, no support is just a broken promise that, as far as the rest of us can tell, has little hope of ever being fulfilled.

"Not completely off the table" and similar statements is basically code speak to the Linux community of, we don't want to offend you as a paying customer but, it's probably not happening. Time after time developers or publishers make promises of linux support and then renig on support once they have our money. In a lot of cases, they've even used the linux community with stretch goals for Linux ports on kickstarters to help get themselves funded, and then dumped us later with bait and switch when the game debuts and the port never happens. Oculus was much the same - in the early kickstarter days the linux community was embraced. As soon as the real product was about to launch we were dumped. Now we aren't important anymore :-(

This is what started #NoTuxNoBux movement which I should follow more strictly in the future. I was willing to give Oculus the benefit of the doubt on post-launch update given that you did HAVE linux support previously (and at the time, HTC didn't at all), but I'm not going to keep investing in an expensive ecosystem with just a promise, when there are others out there that have actually delivered. Guess I'll be going with a different option next time around :-/

I've heard conflicting reports, but from what I can see online SteamVR only supports Linux in extended mode.
Oculus dropped linux and osx when they moved to direct mode. Right now they rely on Nvidia and AMD to explicitly support direct mode at the driver level.
Do Nvidia or AMD currently provide linux drivers with direct mode support? Without that, I don't see Oculus supporting non windows platforms any time soon.

kojack said:

I've heard conflicting reports, but from what I can see online SteamVR only supports Linux in extended mode.
Oculus dropped linux and osx when they moved to direct mode. Right now they rely on Nvidia and AMD to explicitly support direct mode at the driver level.
Do Nvidia or AMD currently provide linux drivers with direct mode support? Without that, I don't see Oculus supporting non windows platforms any time soon.

There is direct mode support now actually. It is present in the
Nvidia 375 series driver; SteamVR for Linux with the Vive is implemented
in direct mode using Vulkan. Unity 5.6 is also updated to be able to work with OpenVR/Vulkan on Linux. AMD does not have direct mode yet and still requires extended mode.

imperativity said:

"Not completely off the table" and similar statements is basically code speak to the Linux community of, we don't want to offend you as a paying customer but, it's probably not happening.

There is general consensus that this is doable when the timing is right. At this time, given the size of the other operating system environments it just does not make financial sense to expend resources pursuing it just yet.

I can appreciate the reality of the marketshare argument, but it doesn't change the fact that Oculus had publicly promised support, and it had been a year of silence, and all major competitors now have support. I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything, but that's all reality. I would still obviously love for Oculus to come to Linux, but, if it doesn't I'll have to go with those who do support my preferred platform next time. If the marketshare isn't appealing now, it's unlikely to be in the near to medium future either, so promises don't mean much.

Personally I'd be happy even if there was just enough support initially to run an OpenVR game, even if Oculus home couldn't come over in its entirety until later on (if that requires much more porting resources / time / qa). Some bare minimum support for advanced users would be better than nothing.