If you're receiving this email, it means you've signed up for the Simula One Waitlist, and will henceforth be receiving teasers & updates from us regarding its development process.| simulavr.com
#58 - Dev Kits, Compute Packs, & 2025 Timeline| simulavr.com
Dev Kits, Compute Packs, & 2025 Timeline| simulavr.com
We really appreciate the patience everyone has shown while waiting for our headsets to ship. We know it's been a long wait, and too much time has passed in between now and our last update.| simulavr.com
1 Software Updates|
We recently routed our first (raw/uncolorized) AR Mode image from our Camera Board through our FPGA:| simulavr.com
1 Second Iteration Headset Enclosure| simulavr.com
1 Teaser Shots of our SLS Prints| simulavr.com
We're releasing an unpolished Review Unit ahead of schedule to an anonymous tester (address redacted), who agreed to give us some early feedback:| simulavr.com
As we outlined in Camera Considerations: Resolution, Bandwidth, & Latency, our final headset will have two Camera Boards (one for each eye) in order for us to implement Simula's AR Mode.| simulavr.com
Assembled facial interface| simulavr.com
1 VXR Boards| simulavr.com
1 Our boards have been delivered to our PCBA| simulavr.com
All Units Are Upgraded to Alder Lake (12th Gen Intel)| simulavr.com
The Ghost Howls interviews Simula's team| simulavr.com
Simula has recently uploaded its headset specs onto vr-compare.com, a helpful site which shows VR comparisons in a standardized format. Below is a comparison of the Valve Index (the best headset officially supported by Simula's window manager), the Oculus Quest 2 (most popular portable VR headset), and the upcoming Simula One. We have bolded the metrics which we consider particularly important.| simulavr.com
In this post, we (i) post our reactions to the Apple Vision Pro, (ii) review some alterations we've recently made to our headset chassis (to improve user comfort and board/cable fit), and (iii) flag an update to our Preorder Agreement for new headset purchasers in 2024 and onward.| simulavr.com
1 Display Leadtimes Reduced| simulavr.com
1 Videos of the Review Unit| simulavr.com
1 Working on our camera system| simulavr.com
We're pleased to confirm that our newly assembled boards are integrated:| simulavr.com
1 We've got some good news!| simulavr.com
Due to capital constraints, we are unable to meet our delivery deadline by EOY 2023 for Simula One preorders, and are pushing our optimistic shipdate to Q2 2024 (with a pessimistic ship date of Q4 2024). In this post we discuss our capital situation, mistakes we made, Review Unit testimonials, & investor feedback.| simulavr.com
We are upgrading all Simula One units to 13th Gen i7 Raptor Lake processors (formerly: 12th Gen Alder Lake).| simulavr.com
Simula is raising institutional capital for the mass production of our headsets. We're also soliciting angel investors who might be interested in alpha testing our Review Unit headsets (helping us form a bridge to our institutional round). More details on this below.| simulavr.com
Optimized PCB geometry to prepare for FPGA integration (via "T-Shape" design). Our VXR and FPGA boards are now going to be placed on the "T"-shaped mount shown on the rendering above. This maximizes the usable surface area for PCB mounting without interfering with our IPD system. This has been a real challenge since the surface area of the "T" is about 3,900mm2 (for reference, a typical credit card is about 4,600mm2).| simulavr.com
In this update, we simulate some of the image processing phases our FPGA undergoes before handing processed image data to our Host. This is a followup to our earlier FPGA Image Processing Pipeline post.| simulavr.com
A couple of minor updates this week while we wait for our Camera Boards to arrive from PCBA.| simulavr.com
We have recently been working on an FPGA Board to help process camera data for Simula's AR Mode. We've recently made some block diagrams which show the signal flow from the Camera Boards to the FPGA to the Host. Below, we show these diagrams, and then discuss the image processing pipeline inside the FPGA.| simulavr.com
Last year, we finished an early version of our Review Unit prototype, which showcased our displays, optics, and primary boards functioning together with our software. Our next major milestone is to deliver a more polished Review Unit (henceforth referred to as Simula's "Polished Review Unit") into the hands of YouTubers. After that, we will release a small early batch of Founders Edition units to our earliest preorderers. And after that, the remainder of our units will be distributed to the r...| simulavr.com
We've recently had to send some of our boards back to PCBA after uncovering some faults in them that we didn't notice initially. The issues are easily fixable, but generally: running up against board flaws at the last second is both costly and time-consuming. To help debug issues like these faster, we gained access to an X-ray machine, which can help identify the root cause of potential board flaws.| simulavr.com
In this post, we talk about what IPD is, why it's important, and how gaming headsets have handled it historically. We discuss the Simula One's auto-IPD adjustment mechanism, and end with a video of us testing a linear servo motor against one of our lenses.| simulavr.com
This post offers constructive criticism on Meta's product vision, and some pushback on what we feel is some misleading marketing.| simulavr.com
Display Interposer Delays| simulavr.com
Our goal for the past several weeks has been to show everyone a fully functioning Simula One review unit. Back in April, we predicted our first review unit would be completed by June 8th. We regret to inform everyone this was a tad bit optimistic :) | simulavr.com
1 Upcoming Price Increases| simulavr.com
1 Interposer & VXR Board Updates| simulavr.com
In this post we discuss progress made on the 3 principal PCB boards we've been working on for our upcoming Review Units.| simulavr.com
Someone recently asked us for a high-level overview of Simula's software stack. Whether you're interested in contributing or simply curious about how our open-source software fits together, this post sketches out how our principal repositories link together:| simulavr.com
After last week's fun post on first-in-kind hardware products, we resume technical updates.| simulavr.com
This post chronicles premium workstations and first-in-kind computing hardware over time. We discuss the risks & costs of early adoption, and end with a section about why consumers don't use premium workstations as much as they used to.| simulavr.com
We've recently made progress on our review unit exteriors. As mentioned in a previous post, our review units will be stripped down versions of the Simula One, intended to demonstrate integrated headset functionality. So far we're still on pace to having a functioning review unit by June 8th, if not earlier at some point in May. | simulavr.com
1 Quality testing our lenses| simulavr.com
This week we talked with VR YouTuber Gramsy about the Simula One. Topics discussed include headset weight vs. battery life tradeoffs, comparing VR Computers to Macs, and other cool things.| simulavr.com
We are planning on releasing Simula One review units (stripped of certain features) at some point over the next 1-2 months. Here we outline the things we need to do before review units can be released, and provide some time estimate intervals.| simulavr.com
We are upgrading all Founders' Edition headsets to Alder Lake processors + 32GB LPDDR5 RAM (formerly: Tiger Lake + 16GB of LDDR4X). Regular edition headsets will likely also receive the CPU upgrade, with the option to upgrade to 32GB of RAM.| simulavr.com
The Simula One: Portable Linux VR Computer| simulavr.com
As of today, we're no longer using Kickstarter as our launch platform, and will instead be self-hosting our own pre-orders via Shopify. With the money we're saving from Kickstarter fees, we're passing on a $100 price reduction onto all of our headsets (now priced at $2,699 instead of $2,799). In addition, we'll be opening up the option for people to place $1,499 half-deposits to reserve units (off of a higher base price). Our pre-order store will be opening by the end of this weekend; as pro...| simulavr.com
Simula One Video Teaser| simulavr.com
We spend all day working on our PCs/Laptops, so if there really are benefits to working in VRCs, upgrading to one could have big impacts to our work productivity.| simulavr.com
1 What is the Simula One?| simulavr.com
1 Pricing| simulavr.com
What is the Simula One?| simulavr.com
The Simula One headset is a VRC ("VR Computer"). To us, VRCs are a new category of computing device (alongside PCs & laptops) which allow people to get stuff done.| simulavr.com
A few days ago we received a large packet in the mail from Meta's legal team informing us that SimulaVR has been subpoenaed for their antitrust case FTC vs. Meta Platforms, in relation to the government's recent injunction against their acquisition of a VR fitness company. | simulavr.com
We just picked up a batch of our principal boards (two of each) from our PCBA:| simulavr.com
While we wait for our boards to finish at our PCBA, we thought it would be a good idea to talk about how we're going to assemble our lenses for our review units.| simulavr.com
1 [In]definite optimism vs. [in]definite pessimism| simulavr.com
This post analyzes the value proposition of the Metaverse in Zuck's own words.| simulavr.com
In this post, we explain how the Simula One's lens system (provided by Limbak) exploits features of the human eye, extracting more Pixels-Per-Degree (PPD) from our displays than should otherwise be possible.| simulavr.com
1 Towards AR Mode| simulavr.com
This week, we discuss the Simula One's display system, outlining specs in more detail and ending with a video demonstration.| simulavr.com