10 ms·

Oculus Rift Development Kit 1

124 points by wildpeaks 12y ago

wildpeaks 12y ago
Just released a few minutes ago at Oculus Connect :)
yarrel 12y ago
Kudos to Oculus for this. The firmware is 2-clause BSD with an additional patent grant.
readerrrr 12y ago
PATENTS Additional Grant of Patent Rights “Software” means the Rift DK1 Firmware distributed by Oculus VR, Inc. Oculus hereby grants you a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, irrevocable (subject to the termination provision below) license under any rights in any patent claims owned by Oculus, to make, have made, use, sell, offer to sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Software. For avoidance of doubt, no license is granted under Oculus’s rights in any patent claims that are infringed by (i) modifications to the Software made by you or a third party, or (ii) the Software in combination with any software or other technology provided by you or a third party. The license granted hereunder will terminate, automatically and without notice, for anyone that makes any claim (including by filing any lawsuit, assertion or other action) alleging (a) direct, indirect, or contributory infringement or inducement to infringe any patent: (i) by Oculus or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates, whether or not such claim is related to the Software, (ii) by any party if such claim arises in whole or in part from any software, product or service of Oculus or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates, whether or not such claim is related to the Software, or (iii) by any party relating to the Software; or (b) that any right in any patent claim of Oculus is invalid or unenforceable.
- objclxt 12y ago
  This seems - and I'm not a lawyer and could be totally misreading it - to be a really raw deal, in the sense that in exchange for using the software you're agreeing to not just sue, but even assert in any way that Facebook infringes upon any patent of yours (or anyone else's, for that matter). Does "any patent" include design patents? Because that seems like a really terrible thing to agree to. Say I'm a company looking to use this library: do I really want to be bound by a license which will be revoked if I ever sue, or even claim publicly that any division of Facebook - because that's what I take "affiliate" to mean - has infringed upon any patent, be it hardware, software, design... Or am I just misreading this?
  - readerrrr 12y ago
    The second part is just gibberish to me. Someone please translate.
    - revscat 12y ago
      "If you write software using this API that infringes patents, we ain't liable for that crap. It's all you, baby. Have fun."
      - noonespecial 12y ago
        "...And if you should ever claim that anything we make infringes on any patent that you might have, you can't use our API anymore, like ever."
        lotsofmangos 12y ago
        If that is legal, everyone should add it to their licenses immediately.
  - fossuser 12y ago
    I recall the apache license having a similar clause to reduce patent litigation against them as well.
  - nknighthb 12y ago
    You could say it's a raw deal if you think patents should exist. If like me, you don't, then you could say it doesn't go nearly far enough, and should instead terminate all rights to both the patents and the copyrighted work if you attempt to assert any patent against anyone, anywhere.
  - bdonlan 12y ago
    IANAL either, but as I read it, if you sue facebook the patent license just goes away. It's essentially the same at that point as if they hadn't mentioned anything at all. So you're either getting something (a conditional license for the patents) at no direct cost to you, or you're getting nothing and losing nothing - how is that a raw deal? These patent grants are commonly used by companies who gather patent portfolios as a means of patent mutually assured destruction. The goal is to ensure that they will never be sued for patent infringement by making sure they have a broad enough patent portfolio to always be able to countersue. Now, if you want to use this and retain the ability to safely sue facebook, you could always negotiate a separate, irrevocable patent license. This is what you would need to do (that, or ignore any potential patents and hope you're not sued) in the absence of such a grant in the first place.
TD-Linux 12y ago
Now only if they could release their libOVR library for talking to the Oculus under a free software compatible license.
- 1qaz2wsx3edc 12y ago
  I imagine they will so they can dominate the industry as a "standard" leveraging themselves above/against competitors. It would ensure they stay the lead in the emerging VR-industry.
  - higherpurpose 12y ago
    Thanks for reminding me just how much I hate Facebook buying Oculus Rift. The last thing we need is for Facebook to become unremovable from yet another industry.
SilentDirge 12y ago
Great to see the acquisition hasn't changed the founders promise to be opensource. Bravo! Looking at the files it's a pretty well designed piece of hardware but nothing too technical. The magic (as usual) is in the software. The design is pretty good too. They even included the carrying case, though, it's missing a clip, ha.
immy 12y ago
Check out the committer, nrpatel (eclecti.cc). Awesome projects. It's been a while since being impressed by CompE folks like this in college (I'm a software guy).
ChaoticGood 12y ago
Check out https://github.com/highfidelity/hifi https://github.com/highfidelity/hifi These ideas go together.
intruder 12y ago
Don't forget: Carmack and Abrash are going to give talks today! http://www.twitch.tv/oculus http://www.twitch.tv/oculus
clebio 12y ago
What are Altium and Gerbers? https://github.com/OculusVR/RiftDK1/tree/master/Schematics https://github.com/OculusVR/RiftDK1/tree/master/Schematics
- mhb 12y ago
  Altium: Schematic and printed circuit board design files for Altium brand software. Gerber: Standard format output files understood by printed circuit board manufacturing companies. These are output by Altium and every other printed circuit board design program. Can also be viewed in a Gerber file viewer.
supahfly_remix 12y ago
I'm surprised at how there are only 3 major components in the schematic: a STM-32 microcontroller, an accelerometer/gyroscope, and a magnetometer. Of course, it gets the job done as simply as possible so nothing more is needed. Does anyone know if a user needs to go through a calibration step (say be moving in a circle) before using it?
- fpgaminer 12y ago
  Yup, the Oculus Config Util, which owners of DK1 can download, includes a calibration function. You hold the Oculus DK1 in place and rotate it around in every which way until the software is happy.
  - supahfly_remix 12y ago
    good to know -- thanks!

124 points by wildpeaks 12y ago

wildpeaks 12y ago

Just released a few minutes ago at Oculus Connect :)

yarrel 12y ago

Kudos to Oculus for this. The firmware is 2-clause BSD with an additional patent grant.

readerrrr 12y ago

PATENTS Additional Grant of Patent Rights “Software” means the Rift DK1 Firmware distributed by Oculus VR, Inc. Oculus hereby grants you a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, irrevocable (subject to the termination provision below) license under any rights in any patent claims owned by Oculus, to make, have made, use, sell, offer to sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Software. For avoidance of doubt, no license is granted under Oculus’s rights in any patent claims that are infringed by (i) modifications to the Software made by you or a third party, or (ii) the Software in combination with any software or other technology provided by you or a third party. The license granted hereunder will terminate, automatically and without notice, for anyone that makes any claim (including by filing any lawsuit, assertion or other action) alleging (a) direct, indirect, or contributory infringement or inducement to infringe any patent: (i) by Oculus or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates, whether or not such claim is related to the Software, (ii) by any party if such claim arises in whole or in part from any software, product or service of Oculus or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates, whether or not such claim is related to the Software, or (iii) by any party relating to the Software; or (b) that any right in any patent claim of Oculus is invalid or unenforceable.

objclxt 12y ago
This seems - and I'm not a lawyer and could be totally misreading it - to be a really raw deal, in the sense that in exchange for using the software you're agreeing to not just sue, but even assert in any way that Facebook infringes upon any patent of yours (or anyone else's, for that matter). Does "any patent" include design patents? Because that seems like a really terrible thing to agree to. Say I'm a company looking to use this library: do I really want to be bound by a license which will be revoked if I ever sue, or even claim publicly that any division of Facebook - because that's what I take "affiliate" to mean - has infringed upon any patent, be it hardware, software, design... Or am I just misreading this?
- readerrrr 12y ago
  The second part is just gibberish to me. Someone please translate.
  - revscat 12y ago
    "If you write software using this API that infringes patents, we ain't liable for that crap. It's all you, baby. Have fun."
    - noonespecial 12y ago
      "...And if you should ever claim that anything we make infringes on any patent that you might have, you can't use our API anymore, like ever."
      - lotsofmangos 12y ago
        If that is legal, everyone should add it to their licenses immediately.
- fossuser 12y ago
  I recall the apache license having a similar clause to reduce patent litigation against them as well.
- nknighthb 12y ago
  You could say it's a raw deal if you think patents should exist. If like me, you don't, then you could say it doesn't go nearly far enough, and should instead terminate all rights to both the patents and the copyrighted work if you attempt to assert any patent against anyone, anywhere.
- bdonlan 12y ago
  IANAL either, but as I read it, if you sue facebook the patent license just goes away. It's essentially the same at that point as if they hadn't mentioned anything at all. So you're either getting something (a conditional license for the patents) at no direct cost to you, or you're getting nothing and losing nothing - how is that a raw deal? These patent grants are commonly used by companies who gather patent portfolios as a means of patent mutually assured destruction. The goal is to ensure that they will never be sued for patent infringement by making sure they have a broad enough patent portfolio to always be able to countersue. Now, if you want to use this and retain the ability to safely sue facebook, you could always negotiate a separate, irrevocable patent license. This is what you would need to do (that, or ignore any potential patents and hope you're not sued) in the absence of such a grant in the first place.

TD-Linux 12y ago

Now only if they could release their libOVR library for talking to the Oculus under a free software compatible license.

1qaz2wsx3edc 12y ago
I imagine they will so they can dominate the industry as a "standard" leveraging themselves above/against competitors. It would ensure they stay the lead in the emerging VR-industry.
- higherpurpose 12y ago
  Thanks for reminding me just how much I hate Facebook buying Oculus Rift. The last thing we need is for Facebook to become unremovable from yet another industry.

SilentDirge 12y ago

Great to see the acquisition hasn't changed the founders promise to be opensource. Bravo! Looking at the files it's a pretty well designed piece of hardware but nothing too technical. The magic (as usual) is in the software. The design is pretty good too. They even included the carrying case, though, it's missing a clip, ha.

immy 12y ago

Check out the committer, nrpatel (eclecti.cc). Awesome projects. It's been a while since being impressed by CompE folks like this in college (I'm a software guy).

ChaoticGood 12y ago

Check out https://github.com/highfidelity/hifi https://github.com/highfidelity/hifi These ideas go together.

intruder 12y ago

Don't forget: Carmack and Abrash are going to give talks today! http://www.twitch.tv/oculus http://www.twitch.tv/oculus

clebio 12y ago

What are Altium and Gerbers? https://github.com/OculusVR/RiftDK1/tree/master/Schematics https://github.com/OculusVR/RiftDK1/tree/master/Schematics

mhb 12y ago
Altium: Schematic and printed circuit board design files for Altium brand software. Gerber: Standard format output files understood by printed circuit board manufacturing companies. These are output by Altium and every other printed circuit board design program. Can also be viewed in a Gerber file viewer.

supahfly_remix 12y ago

I'm surprised at how there are only 3 major components in the schematic: a STM-32 microcontroller, an accelerometer/gyroscope, and a magnetometer. Of course, it gets the job done as simply as possible so nothing more is needed. Does anyone know if a user needs to go through a calibration step (say be moving in a circle) before using it?

fpgaminer 12y ago
Yup, the Oculus Config Util, which owners of DK1 can download, includes a calibration function. You hold the Oculus DK1 in place and rotate it around in every which way until the software is happy.
- supahfly_remix 12y ago
  good to know -- thanks!