Hi @Heliosurge I’m just curious about your experience using linux and VR and would appreciate anything you could share in that regard. After a recent crash of my Windows 10 because a recent forced update I have once again decided that if there ever was a viable option to run Video games or VR using another OS, i would not hesitate to ditch Windows for that and so many other reasons. My experience using linux with games in the past has been not good, never tried it with VR however. Thanks.
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While there have been a ton of progress running games (a lot more are native ie Tombraider 2 new ones, & games like dying light & the Metro series etc) then some in steam are using Wine: but can be tricky on Wine.
VR has still been slow, HTC has been added for support & Oculus can be ran on linux via a linux driver & using oculus sdk through Wine to fill in the blanks so to speak. Steam doesn’t have a lot of native VR games as of yet.
So unfortunately for the time being we need to stick to Windows to have the full monty of variety. But it is coming.
I myself of late use Manjaro which is Arch based; but tailored to be easy to use like Ubuntu.
Feral Interactive did the ports on Tombraider & Rise of the Tombraider.
And of course Pimax will want to have the 200 FoV headsets working well in one OS before working on OSX & Linux. But the Linux Community is often known for trying to find there own way of fast tracking wants.
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@Heliosurge, Thank you for sharing. I’m glad to here that progress is being made. Native games from what I found being shown if fps from a youtube video on the subject was running on par with windows and in some cases even better. With non native using Wine or some other he seemed to be only getting around half fps, so I concluded that would be a no go for now with VR. My short experience with Linux, I had Ubuntu installed with a dual boot set up on my computer and experienced some bugs with that approach, i would recommend using two computers and not to dual boot. Pimax has enough to deal with for sure. Hopefully they will release soon, so many opinions i have been reading (delay or not to delay) I say Pimax seize the moment! and God speed.
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Indeed dual computers is a lot easier for the most part. Some programs will run as good in Wine or better & some not so much.
Virtualbox can be good to run Linux on a Windows computer.
Security wise; i like using Linux for surfing the Web & streaming etc. My Windows Pc I just use Steam & Pimax on.
Now Quality of visuals depends on the game. Dying Light, Dead Islands look great.
Tombraider looks really good but you don’t get the nicities of the Tesfx hair.
Later I will see about splitting this topic as in reality were off topic. 
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@Heliosurge Thank you Heliosurge for making this topic its own seperate thing. I guess now I’ll have to buy another desktop computer just to install Linux.
I think Windows has made their OS to tablet friendly. I guess that makes up most of their users so I understand why they really don’t cater much to the desktop users. I’m constantly deleting so many useless things it is a complete almost daily struggle to lock it down so that I experience the best performance with games and VR. Another issue I have is lack of control.
Do you think three computers are to many?
Man this hobby is getting expensive.
You have peaked my interest.
When I’m not modding Skyrim VR and Fallout 4 VR i can divert my attention to checking out Linux again. 
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Your welcome. As for 3 too many? Lol probably not the best to ask. I have 2 main computers built in use with i5 6500. Windows with 16gig ddr4 with 1080 ti. The other is also 16g but currently with a 760 4g running Manjaro Deepin. I have about 4 other built systems of a variety (2 are all in one Android box Nuc like PCs).
Good thing with Linux is you don’t need new.
Manjaro is nice as you can easily install new kernels & has a really good user friendly hardware manager. Gttg for now b4 the boss realises I am not focused atm. 
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Only win 10 forces updates, a lot of people prefer the win7 experience as you can control the update process better
Eno
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@Enopho Thanks for bringing that up, it is something to consider, I did just read that extended support for Windows 7 ends on January 14 2020. I guess that means you will no longer receive security updates if that is an issue. I may change back if you can run games and VR.
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very true it has been extended, but who knows maybe microsoft will see the error of their ways and give into customer pressure.
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@Enopho Can I ask are you currently using Window 7 and if so how is your experience of it with VR. If I was in a better mood I would have definitely laughed at that last comment about giving into customer pressure. I’m hopeful for Pimax at least they do genuinely listen to their backers and testers and potential future customers.
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no i use win10 enterprise on both my vr machines, i benefit from being a microsoft desktop engineer, so can fix all the quirks that come with forced patches. And in my role doing so i come across lots if issues (specifically related to drivers)
I really don’t see the logic in Msoft doing driver updates where the device manufacture has already provided a better driver for win10? so many sound cards stopping working, or docking stations that no longer run multi monitor or network cards that just plain stop working after device driver updates.
I would defiantly disable the driver updates in WIN10 as they cause more issues than fix. (since 1803 win 10 version that option has been removed also! they only allow you to stop downloading manufacture apps or custom icons now)
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@Enopho Thank you for your interesting and valuable input on this forum. I agree I don’t see the logic and from my limited knowledge it seems they’re going backwards. (or forwards maybe i should go backwards)
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Steam Titles on Linux (I have)
- Dirt Showdown (Native)
- Dirt Rally (Native)
- Rocket League (Native)
- Mad Max (Native)
- Distance (Native)
- Crash Drive 2 (Native)
- Road Redemption (Native)
----- - Sublevel Zero (Native)
- Vector 36 (Native)
- Air Brawl (Native)
- Sirius Online (Native)
- Strike Suit Zero (Native)
- Sun Blast (Native)
- Metro 2033 Redux (Native)
- Metro Last Light (Native)
- Tombraider (Native)
- Rise of The Tombraider (Native)
- Bioshock Infinite (Native)
- Half Life (Native)
- Dying Light (Native)
- Dead Island (Native)
- Dead Island Riptide (Native)
- Left 4 Dead 2 (Native)
- Killing Floor (Native)
- Black Mesa (Native)
- Bound by Flame (Native)
- The Witcher 2 (Native)
- Brutal Legend (Native)
- Outlast
- Painkiller Hell & Damnation (Native)
- Savage Lands (Native)
- Ark Survival Evolved (Native)
- Serious Sam BFG (Native)
- Postal 2 (Native)
- Shadow Warrior (Native)
- Life is Strange (Native)
- Dreamfall Chapters (Native)
- Deadfall Adventures (Native)
To name a few
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Update on Windows games through Steam Linux & OpenVR support!
Aug 2018
Have to explore & test! 
Steam Play Official source.
7600k 1080ti (capped at 155 TDP for Linux) Ubuntu 18.04
In general, I can pick almost any game in my windows library and play it on Linux.
Some require some tweaking, but aside from 1 or 2 (Fairy Fencer…) they’ve all worked quite well.
VR is somewhat of an exception. Most VR titles will load and run at decent fps. Most VR titles have randomly missing textures which can be amusing. Sairento has invisible enemies, but you can see their weapons floating where they should be 
I have been told that later versions of the nvidia drivers have solved the missing texture issues for some. I always get a bit paranoid when it comes to not using the official repos for nvidia drivers due to some past headaches. (Read failure to successfully perform dist-upgrade after using xorg-edgers, YMMV)
In terms on Pimax, I haven’t messed with it yet. The headset does make a really angry noise when connected to Linux.
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Awesome. I used to use a wide variety of Ubuntu variants. Lately have been using Manjaro (Arch varient) due to easier keeping it upto date & the easier kernel manager. Granted switching from apt get to pacman takes some learning.
Ubuntu Variants I have used
- Ultimate Edition
- ZorinOS (very nice interface)
- Mint
- Elementary
- Deepin (before the Debian change)
And a few others. In the ubuntu flavors.
Have tried out Suse Studio, Fedora, Sabayon & a whole lot more. 