there si no disadvantage to go opensource for a software driving a proprietary hardware.
People working on the software will still need the hardware, and you cannot easily produce hardware.
You just expand and accelerate the possibilities to see the hardware widely accepted.
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Well that’s true but a normal company would then first ask the backers, take it in consideration and then make a decision. First making the decision and then asking backers makes no sense at all to me
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Personally, the biggest advantage I can see is by open sourcing is PiTool could become the default standard for all VR interfaces…
Imagine how good VR could actually be if no company were to ‘lock’ their software to a single HMD? Drivers could be created and a massive improvement ground swell could engulf the PiTool package. PiTool would become the ‘linux’ of the VR world…
I would be looking into the history of open sourcing linux and all of the issues which resulted, then using that as a framework to make sure it matched my business model… Pimax would need to retain ‘some’ level of control via licensing, which could become another income stream.
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One con no one has mentioned is the potential for a custom VR driver which allows cheats, like drawing transparent walls. I think that’s bad, but probably inevitable.
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That’s not really viable given the software’s role in the render pipeline.
Are you sure? That would be great, if true, but it seems possible that some sort of cheats might be available.
Might be a bit of a stretch as if this was the case folks would do the same idea in Nouveau(opensource Nvidia Driver) & Gallum/radeon si(amd opensource driver) in the same idea.
Wall hacks/cheats are usually done on game engine from my understanding.
Thanks for that mate… I’ll have a look at OpenXR…
Could be. Years ago, I contributed (as an unpaid volunteer) to PunkBuster http://evenbalance.com/ and we absolutely identified video driver hacks. I’m not sure what the current methods are, but cheaters can be quite creative.
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Hack, cheats, etc. are not affecting VR “workflow”. The game is responsible for the scene rendering (by calling GPU driver, or by calling 3D engine, which calls GPU driver.) then it presents the rendered scene to OpenXR stack (the top layer), which does its stuff (i.e. warping, ATW, ASW, and such) and then it presents the result to the HMD “driver” which just puts it onto the display.
Or, as in Pimax, case, just skips some of the “stuff” and let the HMD “driver” do that.
From what I read, at the moment the focus is on the Application Interface (the top layer), because it is in the common interest of everybody.
I am however skeptical about the Device plugin interface, because I cannot imagine that for example Oculus will let any other headset (from the competition) to use all the IP which Oculus has at the moment (and the others do not), regarding the tracking, reprojection, advanced rendering etc. The same reason why SteamVR does not suddenly support Motion Smoothing or ASW when running Pimax.
With OpenXR device interface in place, any headset should work with any VR stack.
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It depends on how good support you get from the manufacturer of the proprietary hardware. Have a look at OpenWRT project or LibreElec projects. Some silicon providers simply do not want to support OSS and without them disclosing the necessary spec, the support is basically impossible (without reverse engineering the parts).
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Kevin can Pimax give his position on what is subject to open sources? If you want a meaningful public discussion on this topic. In last resort going open source is clearly a internal Pimax decision related to your market objectives and development strategy.
You can get a preview on the interest of the community for this but if we don’t know what we’re taking about the related discussion will not give a clear picture of the community intent
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Your answer explains why a user might prefer to use a closed source software over an OSS one, but I don’t see how that’s relevant to the post you were answering to.
If you refer the my “pros” and “cons” answer it was a direct answer to the OP:
Sorry, but I still don’t get it. The original questions were about the pros and cons of PiMax opening access to the source code of the software they write. The are also the creators of the hardware. How does your comment about uncooperative hardware makers apply here?
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Sorry, I did not get to which answer you refer to. The other remark about writing software to proprietary hardware means writing software to control/run some (proprietary) chips. Pimax does not manufacture any. They are manufactured by ST, Analogix and possibly other vendors and may run Pimax or proprietary firmware as well. If those companies decide to not disclose the spec to the public Pimax cannot do anything about it.
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To complement @risa2000’s answer: when you use a chip from a vendor they will give you an SDK (libraries) and sample source code to use the chip. Sometimes even the provided source code/headers you have to use is under a license that does not allow you to redistribute it.
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i doubt the open sourcing goes up to rewriting part of firmware.
I think we are more discussing the other end of the software, the one that branch to user interface (pitool) or games (or emulator for vives and oculus and controllers)
If people will want to rewrite the code that manage bluetooth or LCD timings, i think they will submit their ideas to Pimax developpers first and this will not break any license limitations.
the Pimax headset is not as simple as a SonOff device where you can rewrite the full firmware.
By the way i just want to mention that i opened a ticket because snowy headset, and 10 days later a received a new cable. Pimax support Excellent !.
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