cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Virtual Desktop vs Physical Desktop

Pixie40
Expert Trustee

So, I've had a fair amount of experience using Virtual Desktop to play untethered PCVR games, or at least they did as of last November. Some require me to reset the view when I first start up via Virtual Desktop, others work just fine out of the box. I've also had extensive experience now with playing my 'pancake' games in VR using Oculus Link, Virtual Desktop, and even Big Screen. With Virtual Desktop now officially being allowed to stream PCVR apps and the announcement of Oculus Air Link, I've decided to experiment with doing away with having a physical computer monitor. So, today I set up my computer where the router is in order to allow me to plug in an ethernet cable.

 

And already I can see a few pros and cons. To start with, thin black text on a white background can be tricky to read. For another, my mouse curser is a bit hard to see currently in VR. I have it set up for high contrast with sites that possess a light colored background. But virtual Desktop replaces my solid black mouse curser with one that is white curser with thin black outline doesn't show up well on a white background in VR. And I can't find a way to change that yet.

 

The screen resolution of the Quest 2 is markedly better then the Quest 1. But text in this forum, for example, is still a little bit blurry. Not deal breakingly bad, but enough that things look slightly out of focus. As such I can forsee possible eye strain trying to read forums in VR for long periods of time. Writing might also be a bit of an issue.

 

The final hurdle I can see is the inability to see your keyboard and mouse. I can touch type, sure. But your the ability to see something out of the corner of your eye has a larger part in touch typing then you might expect. Once the Infinate Office features are released that at least might be fixed, but for now I think I'm still going to have to keep a physical monitor.

 

Dag nabbit.

Lo, a quest! I seek the threads of my future in the seeds of the past.
16 REPLIES 16

Pixie40
Expert Trustee

I have extensive frustration with the fact the Quest 1 only remembers one each of Stationary and Roomscale guardians. As well as the fact that it wipes BOTH if you make a 3rd Guardian. I'd actually expected that I would need to set up once more when I got home.

Lo, a quest! I seek the threads of my future in the seeds of the past.

Pixie40
Expert Trustee

So, my new modem arrived. I set it up, made sure both the computer and Quest 2 are connected to the same 5G network... And Air Link doesn't work. It connects to my computer just fine. But the moment I try launching Air Link, the app crashes. Every. Single. Time. This needs a LOT more work, obviously.

Lo, a quest! I seek the threads of my future in the seeds of the past.

Pixie40
Expert Trustee

In my continuing experimentations with replacing a physical monitor... I'm now trying to use Virtual Desktop with my new router. Seems most of my "text is too blury" issues were due to wireless streaming on a 2.4g network. Interestingly, it appears that hand tracking has now been enabled in Virtual Desktop too. O.o Hadn't realized that. So, this could be a legitimate way to use my computer, it seems.

 

Also, it looks like if you have Air Link enabled, you can't use Oculus Link for tethered PCVR. Which is... annoying.

 

EDIT: Looks like Oculus Link is also completely broken anyway. It wont even start up. This leaves Virtual Desktop or Big Screen as your options for using your desktop via a Quest 2.

Lo, a quest! I seek the threads of my future in the seeds of the past.

Pixie40
Expert Trustee

I spent most of last night using my computer via my Quest 2 and Virtual Desktop (the app). Worked out pretty **bleep** well, overall. Eventually I had to power down the Quest 2 though due to eye strain. Using "night light" mode might help with that in the future, I'll have to test that out later. I did discover one thing though. Virtual Desktop can only stream your PC if you actually do have a monitor hooked up to your tower. If you don't have one plugged in, all you get is a blank screen. Huh, good to know.

 

The main reason I've been doing these experiments is because the only place I can hook up my computer to have it plugged into the router is... right next to my VR play space. Which means I either need a wireless display, to use my Quest 2 as a VR wireless display (ideal solution once they add universal mouse & keyboard tracking in VR), to keep having to set up and tear down my computer desk (a card table) every time I want to do roomscale VR. You know, to work out or play anything like Arizona Sunshine.

 

Due to eye strain after a prolonged session and the inability to see my keyboard & mouse,  I think for now I'll be using my Microsoft Surface Go as a wireless monitor, now that I know how to set that up. Granted, setting it up via jumping in and out of VR was a bit of a pain.

Lo, a quest! I seek the threads of my future in the seeds of the past.

I've only tried VD with the Quest a couple times, not sure if I switched my monitor off or not. probably not.

Do you know if switching it off is the same as not having it connected and stops VD working?

 

I've always switched off my monitor when Rifting... it's a bit of a power hungry beast.

13700K, RTX 4070 Ti, Asus ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming, Corsair H150i Capellix, 64GB Corsair Vengence DDR5, Corsair 5000D Airflow, 4TB Samsung 870 , 2TB Samsung 990 Pro x 2, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, Quest, 2, 3, Pro, Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (10.0.26100)

Pixie40
Expert Trustee

Having the monitor turned off is fine. But you need one actually plugged in. And no, a wireless display doesn't count. I tried that.

Lo, a quest! I seek the threads of my future in the seeds of the past.

Pixie40
Expert Trustee

Further adventures in forgoing a physical monitor... After lunch today I decided to reduce my power consumption a bit. To do so a kit-bashed a battery pack harness, plugged in my Steam 1.0 lighthouse trackers to use as kitbashed IR illuminators (works fairly well overall, but I want to get an actual IR illuminator at some point), and jumped into VR using Virtual Desktop to stream my desktop to the Quest 2. After a while I completely forgot I was in VR, and tried to grab the cup of coffee to my left to take a sip. The cup of coffee which is not real, and just part of the virtual office I use for Desktop streaming. This of course lead me to banging my hand into the computer tower instead of actually grabbing the cup of (non-existent) coffee. Er, oops.

 

A bit later I then decided to lay down for a bit. So I got up, walked over to my couch, and tried to lay down on it. Er, I don't own a couch. The couch I was trying to lay on was again part of my virtual office environment, and I'd completely forgotten once again I was in VR. What I instead ended up doing was falling on my butt and banging my head against the wall's baseboard due to trying to put all my weight on a virtual couch.

Lo, a quest! I seek the threads of my future in the seeds of the past.