Valetudo RE 0.9.0

This is the next release of RE version, verified on S55 (fw 2008). It brings two major changes:

Support for 'rooms' conception of 2008 firmware on Gen2 devices

This includes viewing and editing how the device automagically split the map into the 'segments', and then sending device to clean a number of them. Note that not only it allows direct room cleaning, but also it's now possible to select some rooms in normal scheduled cleaning task to be worked on at a specified time. Obviously all of this is possible only on Gen2 vacuums using 2008 firmware.

Updated interface for Telegram bot

I've got rid of manually typing commands as those really felt boring and inconvenient. Now it's possible to do almost all the tasks just by clicking buttons in some menus. Which, surprisingly, will appear by typing almost any command. Or anything. Yes, exactly that simple. Unfortunately, possibilities of tuning telegram inline menus are limited, so it looks the best I've came up with. If anyone has better ideas on how it could be improved with current telegram capabilities, feel free to suggest.

Lesser changes include a number of fixes, it's now possible to reset consumables and specify the number of repeats per zone on zoned cleaning using mqtt commands, scheduled cleaning timers now can have arbitrary names, integrated firmware update installer is now able to show simple statuses of ongoing updates (but there's still no way to get full error messages from it), finally @Xento introduced a simple dark color scheme for web interface.

Some notes about 2008+ firmware version:

Unfortunately the manufacturer decided to start using a really cut down version of Ubuntu for Gen2, and it's no more possible to simply take a stock firmware and just throw a valetudo binary into it. So this time instead of simply rooted via dustbuilder's image builder firmware we have to use @zvldz's (thanks!) one, which also puts some missing tools back into the image and adds some tuning like downgrading included miio-client to be less aggressive. For manual building I suggest going that way too. Default SSH login is root and password is cleaner. Additionally you should know that installed 2008 firmware can't be further reflashed using common methods, so you should use an update dialog at Settings -> Info for that matter.

Since we have such a massive changes for Gen2, I've also decided to use an updated image for Gen1 vacuums as well: it is now version 4004 that is also prepared with the aforementioned new image builder. But generally it shouldn't change much for Gen1 users.

There are some accusation of 4004 image may have issues getting the map from the device, so it is temporarily removed. Meanwhile you can use Gen1 images from vacuumz.info (created by @zvldz), the images you are looking for are prefixed as vacuum_valetudo_re.

Prebuilt binaries are now based on Node.js 12.15.0 if that mean anything to anyone, and deb distributive file is still available for those who may decide staying with older base firmware images.

Valetudo RE 0.8.2

Mostly bugfix release, adds preliminary support for 2008 firmware on S5 series (no segment cleaning yet).

Also includes new translations:

• Dutch by Tezzlicious
• French by Hydci

Thanks our contributors for their work.

Pre-built binary based on current Node.js 12 LTS, firmware images are v3468 for Gen.1 and v1898 for Gen.2.

Some notes on installation is at deployment section as usual.

Valetudo RE 0.8.1

Mostly bugfix release. Verified on S55 (fw 1898).

It also a bit improves zones and timers pages and adds an ability to load maps using a telegram bot command.

Some notes on installation is at deployment section as usual.

Valetudo RE 0.8.0

Next release for testing RE version, verified on S55 (fw 1898).

Most notable change for this release (aside version numbering was finally changed):

• Possibility to set up a Telegram bot for your vacuum.

This way you can control your robot from the outside network using Telegram messaging app. Using the bot you can send your vacuum commands to start full or zoned cleaning, make it go to preset locations, do a spot cleaning there a get it back to the charging station. Also you can tweak its fan speed and check consumables status as well as receive notifications when device status changes, and even ask the bot to send you a picture of the map!

Lesser changes include the switch from per-client to global user interface settings, and also it's now possible to request a map picture via http from valetudo itself: /api/simple_map (though it's generated a bit slow and doesn't have that high quality as in actual webUI).

Some notes on installation is at deployment section as usual.

Valetudo 0.4.0-RE7.1

This quick release adds two community-contributed translations:

• German by MadJoker0815
• Bulgarian by znanev

If you wish to use valetudo in you native language, feel free to create a new localization by editing ./client/locales/en.json template and send a PR to get it integrated.

Also we are testing again the possibility to ship the release along with pre-built firmware images for gen1 and gen2 devices for those who can't build them themselves. Note that images are provided only for the latest available release.

Images are created using image builder script from our dustcloud fork and feature disabled debug logging, password-only ssh access (no auth keys are preset), rrlog directory placed on a RAM-disk and the current valetudo RE release being preinstalled.

You can login there using username ruby and the password from a corresponding password file. You are advised to change this password using passwd console command as soon as possible. To get root access just login as ruby, type sudo su - and repeat the password.

In addition, we start providing a deb package for easier installation for those who already has root access to their device. You can simply copy the file into the device and run the following command as root: dpkg -i path/to/filename.deb. It will automatically place at the right places valetudo binary and valetudo.conf upstart script, and add required lines to hosts and rc.local files. You'll just need to reboot the device afterwards to apply changes.

Valetudo 0.4.0-RE7

Next release for testing RE version, verified on S55 (fw 1898).

The most important change in this release:

• Added localization support

  • Currently English and Russian languages available;
  • Switching between languages is done in Settings -> Web Interface;
  • You can help translating Valetudo RE and add your own native language support by editing ./client/locales/en.json template and sending a PR.

Also, by a user request current cleaning stats were added to mqtt published attributes:

• currentCleanTime - duration of current cleaning in hours;
• currentCleanArea - area of current cleaning in m².

Pre-built binary is now based on Node.js v12.13.1, which provides a bit faster startup times compared to v10.16.

As always, I remind everyone the necessity to use valetudo binary with valetudo.conf upstart script from this fork only, as it includes preparations for properly running the service that are missing in the origin script.

Valetudo 0.4.0-RE6 preview

Next release for testing RE version, verified on S55 (fw 1898).

The most important change in this release:

• Moved map parsing from server-side to clients.

This way was greatly reduced CPU usage on the device and somewhat lowered RAM consumption.
Also the network bandwidth usage while watching the map was notably reduced as well.

At the same time this change made Valetudo RE incompatible with any third party service that relied on the prepared map data published by the device. Thus the required changes were made for valetudo-mapper companion application: now it can not only create PNG map images but also publish parsed map data in the old compatible JSON format.

As always, I remind everyone the necessity to use valetudo binary with valetudo.conf upstart script from this fork only, as it includes preparations for properly running the service that are missing in the origin script.

Valetudo 0.4.0-RE5.1 preview

This quick release adds user-requested alpha-numeric symbols support in map names.

Also we are testing the possibility to ship the release along with pre-built firmware images for gen1 and gen2 devices for those who can't build 'em themselves:

• v1898 [md5: 355c8df23cf7fd4a564dd1cad51701dd] for gen2 (s50/55)
• v3468 [md5: 1070fc5eba6f8fbf4f1422b464d2d3bc] for gen1

These images are created using image builder script from our dustcloud fork and feature disabled debug logging (as this is enabled by default in stock images), password-only ssh access (no auth keys are preset), rrlog directory placed on a RAM-disk, and the current valetudo RE preinstalled.

You can log-in there using username ruby and the password from a corresponding *.password.txt file. You are advised to change this password using passwd console command as soon as possible. And to get root access just login as ruby, type sudo su - and repeat your password.

UPDATE:

These firmware images contained a bug preventing starting Wi-Fi in AP mode, so they were removed.

Valetudo 0.4.0-RE5 preview

Ninth release for testing RE version, verified on S55 (fw 1898).

This includes the next changes:

• Zone selection menu is now more obvious on how to launch multi-zone cleaning;
• Status of the device is now optionally shown on the map;
• Map now also has dynamic buttons including pause and resume appearing according to current device status;
• Added a new settings page which contains some options related to the web interface itself;
• Added experimental multi-map functionality: ability to save and restore maps (it is turned off by default and should be enabled in the settings first).

Also as usual includes some miscellaneous improvements to existing code.

Make sure to read deployment section when installing if you haven't already.

IMPORTANT:
You should use not only valetudo binary, but also current valetudo.conf upstart script from this fork!
If you keep the old one from origin Valetudo you might experience resets/rollbacks.

Valetudo 0.4.0-RE4

Eighth release for testing RE version, verified on S55 (fw 1898).

This adds a couple new features:

• Ability to specify the number of cleaning iterations per zone;
• Forbidden zones may have a general quadrangular form instead of a strict rectangular one.

Also includes some miscellaneous under-the-hood changes.

IMPORTANT:
You should use not only valetudo binary, but also valetudo.conf upstart script from this fork!
If you keep the old one from origin Valetudo you might experience resets/rollbacks.