Most importantly, I want to explore the limits of what kind of VR experiences can be provided using such hardware. One such computer that quickly comes to mind is the Raspberry Pi, because it comes with HDMI video out, and has OpenGL ES support built-in. It can run Linux, and it can run apps based on SDL, Ogre, and OgreKit (gamekit). It can also run Doom (and more).
Here are some quotes from other threads (to gather them into one place):
geekmaster wrote:Regarding my thoughts about using the Raspberry Pi as a portable gaming device to be used with an Oculus Rift, here is an example of a RasPi app that I would like to port to the Rift:
http://store.raspberrypi.com/projects/openarena
This needs to be head-tracked and pre-warped for the Rift. If the RasPi can do this in stereoscopic 3D too, all the better!
Remember that by uncoupling head tracking from rendering, we can still have (a portion of) the view track our head rotation quickly, keeping us immersively anchored in the VR reference frame, even while the game world around us updates at a slower pace. That requires rendering a larger FoV than our HMD can see, so we have some margin to look into when we move our heads a little in and out of the visible margins.
But hey, this game for the RasPi shows that we can do more with it as a Rift gaming device than just simple "90's era" VR games.
And because most 7-inch tablet PCs are MUCH more powerful than a RasPi, something like this should be a "piece of cake" for a Fov2Go-style HMD add-on for a tablet PC.
I will pull more quotes over here from other threads as I find them.geekmaster wrote:And here is Pi3D, a 3D Python graphics & resources app for the Rasberry Pi:
http://store.raspberrypi.com/projects/skillmanmedia
Pi3D source code:
https://github.com/tipam/pi3d
With the source code, we can add Rift (and Rift-like clone) support to Pi3D.
EDIT: I found a configuration script for the RasPi that makes it display the desktop in SBS-Half format, which might work okay with the Rift, or with a tablet based HMD (after pre-warp is added).
For now, you may find more "RasPi" related content in the "PTZ Tweening" thread.