are there any linux WMs that provide a good desktop experience with VR headsets yet? I'd love to get a niri like scrolling experience with goggles - although it would make meetings weird.
this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2025
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If there is an easy way to extend the desktop to the virtual big screen it will put it higher on my list.
I would imagine that that's the only way that they would be able to make a desktop work on Frame, no?
Im just not sure how much steamos specific or hardware specific stuff are a part of it.
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(3 replies)
Yes but ...
- no hand tracking
- no color passthrough
- no hardware upgrade
- no WebXR
- no new VR proper content
Still, it's good obviously, not having to rely on BigTech. This was also possible before though as I pointed out in https://lemmy.ml/post/38899489/22202786 with e.g. Lynx XR1, as a rooted Android standalone HMD with no account required.
Anyway IMHO the big questions for VR on Linux more broadly is what changes upstream on KDE in terms of immersive UX? Is KDE Plasma becoming a VR graphical shell? Does it have 3D widgets? Does it impact freedesktop in any way?
Edit : I have a SteamDeck since its out, Lynx XR1, etc so I absolutely want Linux VR and FLOSS XR to succeed. In fact I even gave a talk at FOSSXR years ago about that, fact did it twice. Still it doesn't mean I can't be disappointed by those points. I like Valve, I want to give them money, that doesn't mean I can't be objective. You might have different requirements, that doesn't mean you shouldn't compare to alternatives which have existed for years.
To be fair I wouldn’t buy one of those to run Linux, and it’s not a extremely hard to see why the average consumer wouldn’t want to buy this to run Linux either:
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I think your list is a bit too negative. Here are my comments:
- No hand tracking - hand tracking was added to the original Oculus Quest with a software update, at first as an experimental feature. They have continued to improve it over time. I don't see why Valve won't be able to do the same (other than probably having a much smaller team than Meta)
- No color passthrough - I was disappointed by this too. The color passthrough has led to some really interesting games on Quest, like for example, being able to fight characters superimposed over your own real environment, which to me is an amazing development. However, the Frame does have an interface that will allow for color cameras, so there is some small hope for that. Also, perhaps having monochrome passthrough wouldn't actually impede those same games from working on Frame in the first place. Still, out of your entire list, this is the one that I agree is a serious shortcoming.
- No hardware upgrade - what do you mean by this?
- No WebXR - Where have you heard that? I haven't seen any mention of this, but obviously there are endless sources of information about this thing. Even if so, would it be impossible to add later with a software update?
- No new VR proper content - What do you mean by this?
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I still love my Index, but I'm 100% buying the Frame when it comes out. I haven't tried the Index on Desktop SteamOS yet. I should do that. The groundwork for Linux and VR has likely already been laid out.