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docs: Unsupported robots
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38 changes: 33 additions & 5 deletions docs/_pages/faq.md
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Expand Up @@ -79,13 +79,41 @@ how the world works by just forcefully trying to get what you want without consi

## Can you support Robot Model XY? <a name="newbot"></a>

Sure! We'd be glad to look into your case. To help us help you, we only require you to buy and permanently
donate 3 units of the robot in question to us. (2 for HW Hacking, 1 for SW Hacking)
While Valetudo tries its best to be generic and reuse code wherever possible, since it is not a custom firmware,
the backend is basically a few huge chunks of code that are very specific to the respective vendor firmware and cloud architecture they try to emulate.

Though we can't promise to be successful, we strive to achieve a success rate of at least 3%.<br/>
As with any R&D project though, we unfortunately can't offer any refunds if we fail to get the robot support.
Supporting any new vendors is thus quite a large task because not only requires it to write large parts of the backend
again from scratch but also do the reverse engineering of data formats, authentication, communication and various functionality
with no documentation from the vendor available.

We thank you for your understanding and are looking forward to doing business with you!
It's a time-consuming process that mostly involves random chance and that can only start once security vulnerabilities
leading to system administrator level access on the hardware in question has been found. A similar reverse-engineering process
without any documentation that is also quite time-consuming and mostly involves random chance.

<br/>

Valetudo only runs on the supported robots because security researcher [Dennis Giese](https://dontvacuum.me) found ways
to root them.

Rooting in this context means taking these locked-down IoT devices, finding and exploiting security flaws in their design
and gaining permanent system administrator level access to them to allow for running additional custom software such as Valetudo
and modifying the system to make the unclouding possible.

These security flaws are all 0days of which we sometimes need multiple to achieve the rooting.<br/>
They're also specific to one specific vendor's implementation of something on one specific piece of hardware.

With a public root release, these get burned and usually quickly fixed by the vendors, making finding a working exploit chain
for newer models after the release harder or sometimes even impossible.

<br/>

Therefore, please refrain from asking if something that isn't on this list is supported.<br/>
Please do not ask if someone "tried" it. Please do not state that you would like it if something would be supported.

Without explicitly mentioning this, readers often expect that something not being supported just means that
no one has tried it yet, which is more akin to how e.g. running GNU+Linux on some random laptop works.

Thank you for your understanding

## Why is there no reboot button in Valetudo? <a name="reboot"></a>

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42 changes: 40 additions & 2 deletions docs/_pages/general/supported-robots.md
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Expand Up @@ -18,13 +18,51 @@ Unless noted otherwise, these robots were all tested by me personally to ensure
- I have an Idea how the thing works, how rooting works and what to do when things don't work

Being _supported_ means meeting these criteria. Only by fulfilling these conditions can a robot be deemed supported.

## Robots that aren't supported

While Valetudo tries its best to be generic and reuse code wherever possible, since it is not a custom firmware,
the backend is basically a few huge chunks of code that are very specific to the respective vendor firmware and cloud architecture they try to emulate.

Supporting any new vendors is thus quite a large task because not only requires it to write large parts of the backend
again from scratch but also do the reverse engineering of data formats, authentication, communication and various functionality
with no documentation from the vendor available.

It's a time-consuming process that mostly involves random chance and that can only start once security vulnerabilities
leading to system administrator level access on the hardware in question has been found. A similar reverse-engineering process
without any documentation that is also quite time-consuming and mostly involves random chance.

<br/>

Hint:<br/>
You can use Ctrl + F to look for your model of robot.<br/>
Valetudo only runs on the supported robots because security researcher [Dennis Giese](https://dontvacuum.me) found ways
to root them.

Rooting in this context means taking these locked-down IoT devices, finding and exploiting security flaws in their design
and gaining permanent system administrator level access to them to allow for running additional custom software such as Valetudo
and modifying the system to make the unclouding possible.

These security flaws are all 0days of which we sometimes need multiple to achieve the rooting.<br/>
They're also specific to one specific vendor's implementation of something on one specific piece of hardware.

With a public root release, these get burned and usually quickly fixed by the vendors, making finding a working exploit chain
for newer models after the release harder or sometimes even impossible.

<br/>

Therefore, please refrain from asking if something that isn't on this list is supported.<br/>
Please do not ask if someone "tried" it. Please do not state that you would like it if something would be supported.

Without explicitly mentioning this, readers often expect that something not being supported just means that
no one has tried it yet, which is more akin to how e.g. running GNU+Linux on some random laptop works.

Thank you for your understanding


## Table of Contents

Hint:<br/>
You can use Ctrl + F to look for your model of robot.<br/>

1. [Xiaomi](#xiaomi)
1. [V1](#xiaomi_v1)
2. [1C](#xiaomi_1c)
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