Thanks for the updated status on using Rift S and probably other Meta VR headsets with Linux. There are a bunch of more recent and more expensive VR headsets not part of the Meta empire that might work well although I have not tried them: Valve Frame, Big Screen Beyond 2, Meganex Superlight 8. The latter two are much lighter than other headsets, have very high resolution, but only work tethered to a PC. All those headsets work with SteamVR and have a better chance of working on Linux than Meta headsets. Tom
On Mar 4, 2026, at 2:55 AM, adamwalkerlk0055--- via ChimeraX-users <chimerax-users@cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
I ran into the same issue recently on Ubuntu with a Rift S. SteamVR installs, but without the Oculus PC software (Windows-only), the headset just won’t initialize properly on Linux. I also looked into SteamLink and OpenXR options, but support on Linux still seems incomplete or unreliable for this setup.
What worked for me in the end was either:
Dual-booting Windows just for VR work (most stable solution), or
Using a separate Windows machine dedicated to VR tasks.
Unfortunately, Rift S is especially tied to the Oculus/Meta software stack, so Linux flexibility is pretty limited there. If you’re open to changing hardware, you’d still likely face driver/runtime limitations on Linux for most modern PC VR headsets.
I love Linux for most of my workflow, but for VR I had to concede and use Windows to avoid endless troubleshooting.
Hope that helps save you some time! _______________________________________________ ChimeraX-users mailing list -- chimerax-users@cgl.ucsf.edu To unsubscribe send an email to chimerax-users-leave@cgl.ucsf.edu Archives: https://mail.cgl.ucsf.edu/mailman/archives/list/chimerax-users@cgl.ucsf.edu/