The Oculus Rift will not support Linux at launch

The Oculus Rift will not support Linux at launch

The Oculus Rift will not support Linux at launch

 

In the beginning Linux support was something that Oculus was very active in supporting, with the first developer SDK supporting Windows and Linux. Many developers were very happy with the Rift’s Linux support, with Richard Jones, the developer of Red Hat, saying that “Surprisingly, using Linux is not a problem at all”.

Now Linux support for the release model has been postponed until after the Rift’s launch, which is unsurprising given the dominance Windows has on the gaming market and Oculus’ known partnership with Microsoft, which has an Xbox One controller bundles with the retail unit.  

 

Our development for OS X and Linux has been paused in order to focus on delivering a high-quality consumer-level VR experience at launch across hardware, software, and content on Windows.

  The Oculus Rift will not support Linux at launch  

Oculus has not canceled Linux support, but they do not have a firm timeline for when they will resume development, just that they have it on the “roadmap post launch”.

At this point it is very likely that the Valve backed HTC Vive will beat the Oculus Rift to achieving Linux support on their retail units, especially given the fact that Valve has their own distribution of Linux, SteamOS. 

We will learn more about the HTC Vive over the next month as pre-orders for the unit become available. 

 

You can join the discussion on the Oculus Rift’s Linux support on the OC3D Forums.

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