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On an unrelated note, in 2021 Carmack and Meta announced [1] unlocking the Oculus Go bootloader, explicitly mentioning that it "opens up the ability to repurpos

On an unrelated note, in 2021 Carmack and Meta announced [1] unlocking the Oculus Go bootloader, explicitly mentioning that it "opens up the ability to repurpose the hardware for more things today, and means that a randomly discovered shrink wrapped headset twenty years from now will be able to update to the final software version" [2]. I thought that was great, wanted to hack [3] on it a bit, so I went ahead and bought an Oculus Go on the second hand market. Turns out that the quote isn't true at all [4]. Updating the firmware requires enabling developer mode [5]. Enabling developer mode requires activating the Oculus Go with a Meta or Oculus account [6]. I don't have or want to have a Meta-related account, and in twenty years the online activation process likely won't work at all, making Carmack's shrink-wrapped headset useless without a fight. I'm sure the point is moot in twenty years because you'll just ask Skynet to write you an Android root exploit, but right know my second hand Oculus Go is surely acting like a brick in my drawer. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/27/22696030/oculus-go-root-access-unlocked-os-homebrew-developers-john-carmack https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/27/22696030/oculus-go-root-a... [2] https://xcancel.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1441496416463904768 https://xcancel.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1441496416463904768 [3] https://github.com/AndroidDevice-Porting/android_device_oculus_pacific1 https://github.com/AndroidDevice-Porting/android_device_ocul... [4] Although at first I couldn't believe this and assumed I must be doing something wrong instead. I'm still not ruling out that possibility; I would very much like to hear a solution. [5] https://developer.oculus.com/blog/unlocking-oculus-go/ https://developer.oculus.com/blog/unlocking-oculus-go/ [6] https://ez-360.com/knowledge-base/how-to-enable-developer-mode-oculus-go-quest/ https://ez-360.com/knowledge-base/how-to-enable-developer-mo...

fnordpiglet 2y ago
Would you be able to do it with a fake account, and if having done that process today makes what he said entirely true? I get there’s a product manager engagement injected step but it seems harsh to say “isn’t true at all” when you mean “he left out a step that’s required that I don’t want to do.”
- bee_rider 2y ago
  What if Facebook has gone out of business in 20 years?
  - fnordpiglet 2y ago
    Then do it now and it’ll be unlocked.
    - mvdtnz 2y ago
      You're comprehensively missing the point. According to Carmack's hypothetical, someone in the future could discover a unit and unlock it even if they were born after Facebook/Meta went out of business completely. But that just isn't true if a Meta login is required.
      - fnordpiglet 2y ago
        Yes. However you can imagine a world where he is right but someone along the way put a hurdle in, yet his essential goal is correct given in the present you could do this and in 20 years use the device as he described. To say he’s entirely wrong, which was what was said, is extremely ungenerous.
        bee_rider 2y ago
        > "opens up the ability to repurpose the hardware for more things today, and means that a *randomly discovered* shrink wrapped headset twenty years from now will be able to update to the final software version" No, the device in his hypothetical is randomly discovered, so it is not ungenerous to assume that the person discovering it randomly didn’t happen to have set up a dev account. Because most people don’t have these types of accounts, a random person discovering the device should not be assumed to have one. Additionally, he’s clearly describing something serendipitous, not something that requires planning ahead by 20 years.
    - bee_rider 2y ago
dylan604 2y ago
> twenty years from now will be able to update > requires activating the Oculus Go with a Meta or Oculus account I wonder if Carmack knew about this requirement at the time of his quote, or if the rug was yanked out from under him after the fact. Are there any account systems that have lasted 20 years without having the plug pulled on them?
- acidburnNSA 2y ago
  Pretty sure my Amazon and eBay accounts are about that old by now.
- DiggyJohnson 2y ago
  My RuneScape account is the same and over 20 years old.
  - Confiks 2y ago
    Try logging in with the game client from twenty years ago, which is the equivalent here.
    - DiggyJohnson 2y ago
      Fair enough, though the game client is essentially the same as it was 15 years ago in that case. Point taken, though.
- derwiki 2y ago
  ICQ, until recently
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
wkat4242 2y ago
Yeah and the go isn't really an interesting product anyway. I was really hoping they would do the same with the Quest 1 which they've deprecated now too. But they haven't. I guess the firmware has too much in common with the 2 and 3 for them to consider open sourcing it. Or it was mainly Carmack who pushed for this with the Go and he has left the company since.
- Confiks 2y ago
  > Yeah and the go isn't really an interesting product anyway. It's a basic, relatively inexpensive model that was sold widely with over 2 million units until July 2019 [1] and continued to sell for 20% of Meta VR until it was discontinued in 2020. It still carries about a third of it's inflation adjusted 2018 introduction price on the second hand market, and was a logical product to buy in sets of 10-30 for applications like education, science and parties. As Meta stopped "accepting new Go apps and app updates after Dec. 4, 2020." [2], those sets already became obsolete for new applications using the regular developer tools. A few months ago, some users wrote on Reddit that "90% of my apps stopped working" because Meta "shutdown the entitlement check server" [3], but that seems to have been fixed despite ending support. Sideloading works like you would expect [4] from Android after you've enabled developer mode (which I haven't tried). Two people on Github managed to run CM 14.1 on the Oculus Go and published the device tree [5]. There doesn't seem to be much interest and it's a rough build for me. The readme claims that everything works, but I'm skeptical. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/12/facebook-oculus-will-never-break-through-co-founder-jack-mccauley.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/12/facebook-oculus-will-never-b... [2] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/23/facebook-to-end-oculus-go-vr-headset-sales.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/23/facebook-to-end-oculus-go-vr... [3] https://www.reddit.com/r/OculusGo/comments/1csvj8j/90_of_my_apps_stopped_working/ https://www.reddit.com/r/OculusGo/comments/1csvj8j/90_of_my_... [4] https://vault.gearvr.net/ https://vault.gearvr.net/ [5] https://github.com/AndroidDevice-Porting/android_device_oculus_pacific1 https://github.com/AndroidDevice-Porting/android_device_ocul...
  - wkat4242 2y ago
    Ah yeah I understand, it's just that without 6DOF tracking and tracked controllers it's not much more useful than a Google Cardboard. I would really love to see an open sourced Quest 1 <3 That would be really something new to play with.
Confiks 2y ago
> Turns out that the quote isn't true at all To be clear (too late to edit): the latter part of the quote.
ffsm8 2y ago
You didn't need a meta account for developer mode initially. You could just toggle it in the settings. Not sure when they changed it (and if this change was pre or post his quote)
- Confiks 2y ago
  That would make the quote true, or at least for early produced models. However, in guides created two months after the release of the Oculus Go, it was was already necessary to create an account: "before you can put your device in Developer Mode, you need to have created (or belong to) a developer organization on the Oculus Dashboard" [1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQQDyC2I0R0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQQDyC2I0R0

fnordpiglet 2y ago

Would you be able to do it with a fake account, and if having done that process today makes what he said entirely true? I get there’s a product manager engagement injected step but it seems harsh to say “isn’t true at all” when you mean “he left out a step that’s required that I don’t want to do.”

bee_rider 2y ago
What if Facebook has gone out of business in 20 years?
- fnordpiglet 2y ago
  Then do it now and it’ll be unlocked.
  - mvdtnz 2y ago
    You're comprehensively missing the point. According to Carmack's hypothetical, someone in the future could discover a unit and unlock it even if they were born after Facebook/Meta went out of business completely. But that just isn't true if a Meta login is required.
    - fnordpiglet 2y ago
      Yes. However you can imagine a world where he is right but someone along the way put a hurdle in, yet his essential goal is correct given in the present you could do this and in 20 years use the device as he described. To say he’s entirely wrong, which was what was said, is extremely ungenerous.
      - bee_rider 2y ago
        > "opens up the ability to repurpose the hardware for more things today, and means that a *randomly discovered* shrink wrapped headset twenty years from now will be able to update to the final software version" No, the device in his hypothetical is randomly discovered, so it is not ungenerous to assume that the person discovering it randomly didn’t happen to have set up a dev account. Because most people don’t have these types of accounts, a random person discovering the device should not be assumed to have one. Additionally, he’s clearly describing something serendipitous, not something that requires planning ahead by 20 years.
  - bee_rider 2y ago

dylan604 2y ago

> twenty years from now will be able to update > requires activating the Oculus Go with a Meta or Oculus account I wonder if Carmack knew about this requirement at the time of his quote, or if the rug was yanked out from under him after the fact. Are there any account systems that have lasted 20 years without having the plug pulled on them?

acidburnNSA 2y ago
Pretty sure my Amazon and eBay accounts are about that old by now.
DiggyJohnson 2y ago
My RuneScape account is the same and over 20 years old.
- Confiks 2y ago
  Try logging in with the game client from twenty years ago, which is the equivalent here.
  - DiggyJohnson 2y ago
    Fair enough, though the game client is essentially the same as it was 15 years ago in that case. Point taken, though.
derwiki 2y ago
ICQ, until recently
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

wkat4242 2y ago

Yeah and the go isn't really an interesting product anyway. I was really hoping they would do the same with the Quest 1 which they've deprecated now too. But they haven't. I guess the firmware has too much in common with the 2 and 3 for them to consider open sourcing it. Or it was mainly Carmack who pushed for this with the Go and he has left the company since.

Confiks 2y ago
> Yeah and the go isn't really an interesting product anyway. It's a basic, relatively inexpensive model that was sold widely with over 2 million units until July 2019 [1] and continued to sell for 20% of Meta VR until it was discontinued in 2020. It still carries about a third of it's inflation adjusted 2018 introduction price on the second hand market, and was a logical product to buy in sets of 10-30 for applications like education, science and parties. As Meta stopped "accepting new Go apps and app updates after Dec. 4, 2020." [2], those sets already became obsolete for new applications using the regular developer tools. A few months ago, some users wrote on Reddit that "90% of my apps stopped working" because Meta "shutdown the entitlement check server" [3], but that seems to have been fixed despite ending support. Sideloading works like you would expect [4] from Android after you've enabled developer mode (which I haven't tried). Two people on Github managed to run CM 14.1 on the Oculus Go and published the device tree [5]. There doesn't seem to be much interest and it's a rough build for me. The readme claims that everything works, but I'm skeptical. [1] https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/12/facebook-oculus-will-never-break-through-co-founder-jack-mccauley.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/12/facebook-oculus-will-never-b... [2] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/23/facebook-to-end-oculus-go-vr-headset-sales.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/23/facebook-to-end-oculus-go-vr... [3] https://www.reddit.com/r/OculusGo/comments/1csvj8j/90_of_my_apps_stopped_working/ https://www.reddit.com/r/OculusGo/comments/1csvj8j/90_of_my_... [4] https://vault.gearvr.net/ https://vault.gearvr.net/ [5] https://github.com/AndroidDevice-Porting/android_device_oculus_pacific1 https://github.com/AndroidDevice-Porting/android_device_ocul...
- wkat4242 2y ago
  Ah yeah I understand, it's just that without 6DOF tracking and tracked controllers it's not much more useful than a Google Cardboard. I would really love to see an open sourced Quest 1 <3 That would be really something new to play with.

Confiks 2y ago

> Turns out that the quote isn't true at all To be clear (too late to edit): the latter part of the quote.

ffsm8 2y ago

You didn't need a meta account for developer mode initially. You could just toggle it in the settings. Not sure when they changed it (and if this change was pre or post his quote)

Confiks 2y ago
That would make the quote true, or at least for early produced models. However, in guides created two months after the release of the Oculus Go, it was was already necessary to create an account: "before you can put your device in Developer Mode, you need to have created (or belong to) a developer organization on the Oculus Dashboard" [1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQQDyC2I0R0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQQDyC2I0R0