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Anyone using a FOSS-friendly robot vacuum? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 4 days ago by Shatur@lemmy.ml to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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I'm considering buying a robot vacuum cleaner, but I'm not a fan of the idea that it would scan my apartment and send data to the cloud.

I came across the Valetudo project, and it looks promising. It doesn’t replace the firmware - just replaces the cloud connection with local automation systems instead. Has anyone here used it? Or are you using something else for local control? I'd love to hear your experience 🙂

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[-] Lemmchen@feddit.org 26 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Keep in mind the community is solely managed on Telegram and the founder is a bit hard to bear sometimes. He banned me from all channels over a the tiniest little argument and so I can't interact with and get any support from the community. Made me decide to not flash Valetudo on my Dreame and just keep it offline.
Good thing is this was the last reason for me to use Telegram at all and so I was able to finally delete my account there for good.

[-] isolatedscotch@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 4 days ago

founder is a bit hard to bear sometimes. He banned me from all channels over a the tiniest little argument and so I can't interact with and get any support from the community

i have seen the harsh takes on the valetudo website but thought it was a joke, what happened to deserve that

[-] Lemmchen@feddit.org 14 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

He is/was sending out little PCBs you can use to connect to your vacuum and flash Valetudo. The way this works is you're supposed to contact him via Telegram and send him a prepaid postal label for him to send the package to you.
I contacted him and told him I was interested but uncomfortable with handing over my address data to Telegram over a non-E2EE connection and asked him if he was using Signal or another E2EE messenger we could use instead. When he said no I asked him if we then at least could use Telegram's Private Chat feature, but he declined again (I forgot the exact reasoning, something about the chat not being synced between clients and he needs the label on another client that he wasn't currently on or something. I remember it being a legitimate reason). After that little dialog he suddenly sent me instructions on how to refund the postal label, told me I was wasting his time and immediately blocked me (just in his chats, not the community yet). Keep in mind this is from the guy claiming to free your vacuums from privacy invading China cloud vendors.
After that I went to one of the community channels, told them in the chat that Hypfer blocked me and if someone else was willing to send me a PCB. He then started to argue with me publically (I don't remember what was being said, but for someone whos time I was supposedly wasting he suddenly was very talkative) which I ended by saying I wasn't interested in arguing with him and I only came to ask for a PCB from the other people in the channel. He then blocked me from that channel. Then I went to another one to complain about this behavior which was immediately followed by a block in every available Telegram channel.

TL;DR: Guy creating non-privacy invasive firmware server alternative uses privacy invasive platform to manage community, blocks you when asking for E2EE alternative and gets mad when you tell his community how he acts.

All to say this is a really sad state of affairs. Valetudo could be a really great project with many many more users if it was just managed by someone with a slightly different mindset.

Think of Valetudo as a privately-owned public garden.
[...]
But, at the end of the day, you must understand that it is still privately-owned. You’re on someone else’s property over which you have no power at all. You will have to show the necessary respect. And - most importantly - you need to understand that letting you into this garden is a gift and should be treated as such.

https://valetudo.cloud/

[-] isolatedscotch@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 4 days ago

wasnt the whole point to be able to solder one yourself?

[-] sxan@midwest.social 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

~~solder one~~ destroy a PCB yourself

FTFY.

In my hands, a soldering iron is not a finely tuned instrument, it's a hand grenade. The US government classifies me with a soldering iron as a WMD. Physicists are trying to determine commercial applications for my ability to instantly coat a PCB in a layer of solder with a single drop. The ATF added a special rule requiring a background check for me to purchase a soldering iron.

I can paint eyelashes on D&D miniatures, but I bear some ancient curse when it comes to solder. In all seriousness, I've literally destroyed hundreds of dollars of equipment attempting the most simple soldering task; it's cheaper for me to find someone competent selling already soldered solutions than to ruin them myself. I no longer try.

[-] isolatedscotch@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 days ago

Damn, made me chuckle

Anyways, going by

, i have had multiple people (2, which is not a lot but it's weird it happened more then once) say that they couldnt solder just to discover that they were using their soldering iron wrong.

When you press the solder against the iron's tip, it should get wicked by the tip, and remain there until you press it on some wire/component leads.

If the solder beads up and slips away from the iron, or beads up and forms a blob at the end of the solder wire, it's oxidised and you probably need to get a new tip. It needs to be shiny and metallic.

The tip needs to be regularely cleaned while soldering by brushing it on a wet sponge, and never let the iron cool down without some solder on the tip to prevent oxidation.

also, FLUX FLUX FLUX

[-] Lemmchen@feddit.org 6 points 4 days ago

You can if you have the parts (and the skills). I've just recently learned that technically you don't even need the PCB and can use a USB UART directly on the vacuum's pins.
However, I don't plan to become part of a community where the only place to discuss issues is a centralized walled garden which I got banned from and I can't recommend anyone else does either.

[-] relaymoth@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 days ago

Do you have a link to any docs showing this? I've been looking at supported vacs but want to avoid the pcbs if at all possible.

[-] Lemmchen@feddit.org 2 points 4 days ago

https://valetudo.cloud/pages/installation/dreame.html

Click on "If you know what you're doing, here's the relevant pinout for you (click me)" and you'll see the pinout. Keep in mind:

If you don't know what you're doing and start bothering the support chat with questions on what to do with this pinout, I will send you pictures of sad kittens. You have been warned.