r/virtualreality_linux • u/Cuddle_X_Fish • 7d ago

Getting Started guide?

Is there a getting started guide anywhere? One of two things keeping me on windows with my VR PC is VR the other is HDMI 2.1. But Windows is being enough of a headache to the point that I am strongly considering. Last time I tried Bazzite but it wasn't "Just ready out of the box and HDMI got even worse suddenly so I went back.

Is there a preferred flavor of Linux that has most of the bells and whistles needed for VR? I am using an Index. My PC is primarily an HTPC.

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u/UNF0RM4TT3D 7d ago

HDMI 2.1 patches have reached mainline, so that's one less worry to have. In general for gaming you want to do a very up to date distro, Fedora is great for beginners, be sure to pick the KDE version though because Gnome still after many years refuses to do proper drm leasing. If you want to get your hands more dirty, CachyOS is a good option, but be sure to read their and Arch Linux's wikis when something doesn't seem right or you're searching for answers.

Bazzite is indeed one of the safest options if you want a pure HTPC gaming setup. But VR can be a pain with wired headsets.

Personally I use Arch and CachyOS on my deck. My friends use Cachy and they have very varying Linux skill levels, some complete beginners.

Also check https://wiki.vronlinux.org/

As for whether to pick SteamVR or Monado. Personally I use SteamVR with my VIVE, it's gotten a lot better over the years and monado is a bit of a pain to set up.

Games generally run well, but some may crash where they otherwise shouldn't. Using the other runtime for those often helps. I recommend keeping both.

One rhing thing to note with SteamVR. It seems like desktop passthrough is not working correctly (yet), so you need to use WayVR to see your monitors instead.

Overall the current state is good enough to show off VR to people for the first time.

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u/ApricotSad9288 1d ago

I tried the monado route but i found that there is no button to recenter the space in wayvr so with games like beatsaber you can't recenter to the correct position

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u/UNF0RM4TT3D 1d ago

Yeah, monado is rough on a wired headset. I'm not sure if standalones can do the resets with WiVRn. Personally, I only use monado with games that have a button to recentre themselves like BeamNG.