mirror of https://github.com/Hypfer/Valetudo.git
128 lines
6.3 KiB
Markdown
128 lines
6.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Newcomer Guide
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category: General
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order: 5
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---
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# Valetudo Newcomer Guide
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Hi and welcome to the Valetudo Newcomer Guide.
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This should hopefully answer all the questions you might have and also be interesting to read for people that haven't been following the recent development.
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_Last update: 2024-06-18_
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## What is Valetudo?
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Valetudo is a cloud replacement for vacuum robots enabling local-only operation. It is not a custom firmware.<br/>
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Here's a diagram illustrating the core operation principle:
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[<img src="./img/operation_principle.png" height=450>](./img/operation_principle.png)
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Because Valetudo is not a custom firmware, it cannot change anything about how the robot operates.<br/>
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What it can do however is protecting your data and enable you to connect your robot
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to your home automation system without having to detour through a vendor cloud, which,
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apart from the whole data problematic, might not be reachable due to your internet connection
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being down or some servers in the datacenter being on fire.
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Not having to leave your local network of course also benefits the latency of commands, status reports etc.
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Valetudo aims to be proof that easy to use and reliable smart appliances are possible without any cloud and/or account requirements.
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Maybe at some point it might help convince vendors that there is another way of doing things.
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If you want to learn more about why someone would want to use something like Valetudo, check out the [Why Valetudo?](https://valetudo.cloud/pages/general/why-valetudo.html) page.
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If you want to learn more about why someone would **not** want to use something like Valetudo, check out the [Why not Valetudo?](https://valetudo.cloud/pages/general/why-not-valetudo.html) page.
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## Who is Valetudo for?
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Valetudo can be used by anyone with a basic understanding of the english language.
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**Note:**<br/>
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While Valetudo can be **used** by anyone with a basic understanding of the english language, it cannot be **installed**
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just with those skills.
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To install Valetudo you will need some understanding of linux-ish operating systems as well as computers in general
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and maybe even some basic hardware hacking stuff.
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If you lack these skills, please consider asking a friend or computer repair shop to help you with that.
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As Valetudo is just the hobby project of some guy on the internet, it is not possible (nor intended) for it to provide
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first-level/tier-one support.
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## What can Valetudo do?
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By default, Valetudo provides control over your vacuum robot via a **responsive webinterface** that works on all of your devices.
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It can be used on phones, tablets as well as your desktop computer.
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Furthermore, there's a **REST-interface** documented with **Swagger UI** as well as **MQTT**.
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With support for both **Homie** and **Home Assistant Autodiscovery** for MQTT, you're able to connect Valetudo to
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the open-source smarthome software of your choice.
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Make sure to check out the [MQTT Docs](https://valetudo.cloud/pages/integrations/mqtt.html) as well as the
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[OpenHAB integration](https://valetudo.cloud/pages/integrations/openhab-integration.html).
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Valetudo fully supports:
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- Room Cleaning, splitting, merging and renaming
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- Water Pump controls and editing no-mop zones
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- Editing Virtual Walls, No-Go Areas
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- Dynamic zoned cleanup
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- Go-To locations
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- Start/Stop/Home/Locate and Fan speed control
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- Consumables monitoring
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- Carpet mode and persistent data control
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- Audio volume control
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as long as your robots firmware can actually do that.
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By replacing the cloud, you also gain access to your own data, which you can use however you like.
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For example there are already a few applications that turn your map data into various other formats such as [Minecraft Worlds
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or Source-Engine maps](https://valetudo.cloud/pages/companion_apps/fun_games.html). There's a huge amount of possibilities yet to be explored.
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Due to the openly documented, standardized and easily accessible Map Data, one can use any Valetudo-compatible Vacuum Robot to map out
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a new home, write some glue code to transform it into the 3d software of their choice and use that precise floor plan to
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figure out where to put the furniture.
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Furthermore, the standardised Valetudo API allows for the creation of companion services such as [Valeronoi](https://github.com/ccoors/Valeronoi),
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which can build a Wi-Fi signal heatmap from the data provided by Valetudo.
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## Which robot should I buy to use it with Valetudo?
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To choose the right robot to buy, head over to [Buying supported robots](https://valetudo.cloud/pages/general/buying-supported-robots.html).
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If you want to use Valetudo, please buy a supported robot.
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Please refrain from buying any random robot just to then ask how we can make Valetudo on that thing happen.<br/>
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Unless there are very good reasons to support a new Model/Brand/etc. such as
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- amazing new features. which provide something that isn't available on anything else currently supported
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- older supported models becoming EOL and getting hard to buy
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it likely won't happen as chosen the strategy is to stick to a few well-supported and actually good models.
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## How do I install Valetudo?
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The [getting started guide](https://valetudo.cloud/pages/general/getting-started.html) is a good place to start.
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## Where can I get support?
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If you're looking for answers/support, the first place to look are the docs.
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Furthermore, you can also check the [Telegram Group](https://t.me/+85k0wzfEFwRmMGIy).
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Telegram features a very powerful full-text search so make sure to use that before asking.
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There's also the option of using the [GitHub Discussions feature](https://github.com/Hypfer/Valetudo/discussions/categories/q-a-support).
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The same "search before you ask" applies here.
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If you experience issues, please don't immediately file a bug report but instead only do that if you're 100% sure that it is actually a bug.
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In general and especially if you're new to open source, It's strongly recommended to thoroughly read and understand
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"[How To Ask Questions The Smart Way](http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions)", since that will make interactions much better for everyone involved.
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## How can I contribute to Valetudo?
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Generally speaking, the best way to contribute to Valetudo is to support other Valetudo users.
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For anything beyond that, make sure to familiarize yourself with the [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/Hypfer/Valetudo/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)
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