Strom 0.4.0

Self-contained Linux AppImage (x86_64) for Strom 0.4.0.

Replaces a previous AppImage in place; settings and credentials
stay in the user configuration directory.

Strom Desktop 0.4.0

A quieter home for your heating, with native Qt controls and a little radiator artistry.

Desktop

• A clearer dashboard with system-palette linework and typography that follows the desktop font.
• A last-completed-run card: heater on-time, estimated cost, and a labeled on-time bar. Reports stay visible during the next run; no invented live telemetry.
• Turn automatic repeats off while a run is active, without interrupting that run.
• Native Heating and View menus, keyboard shortcuts, and compact disclosure controls for advanced options and the activity log.
• English and Spanish support for the new interface.

Reliability

• Verified relay shutdowns, elapsed-time accounting, delayed heating plans, and thermal constraints covering the full optimization horizon.
• Shorter planning horizons when tomorrow's electricity prices are not yet published, while still rejecting internal coverage gaps.
• Private, atomic credential saves and consistent literal password parsing.
• Update checks no longer leave heating blocked; concurrent windows cannot remove a live update download. Redirect handling and prerelease filtering are corrected.

Strom remains an alpha. Temperature and cost are model estimates. Keep the app running during a cycle; an in-process watchdog cannot protect against a computer crash or power loss.

Build provenance

date: 2026-10-05T20:47:37Z
commit: v0.4.0
version: 0.4.0
arch: x86_64
build python: Python 3.12.8
pyinstaller: 6.22.2
pyside6: 6.11.2
build baseline: glibc 2.35 / GLIBCXX 3.4.30 / CXXABI 1.3.13
bundle maxima: glibc 2.35 / GLIBCXX 3.4.29 / CXXABI 1.3.13
appimagetool: 1.9.1 (ed4ce84f0d9caff66f50bcca6ff6f35aae54ce8135408b3fa33abfc3cb384eb0)
runtime: 20251108 (2fca8b443c92510f1483a883f60061ad09b46b978b2631c807cd873a47ec260d)
artifact: Strom-0.4.0-x86_64.AppImage
artifact sha256: 9eef60866f95313652b7e7d42c31a36581fb01c17c7615bb23a2c72a9c4a79b7
artifact size: 146M

Verify the download

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS

Strom Alpha 0.3.6

Strom Alpha 0.3.6 is a pre-release of the Strom desktop application for Linux x86-64. Expect changes and report issues as you try it.

Changes since 0.3.5

Setup

• The setup wizard no longer moves between steps: the step card area, the Back/Continue row and the advanced settings keep one position.
• Language coverage is complete: tooltips, field examples, accessible names and the saved-file log lines are translated too.
• The interface follows the desktop theme and native Qt styling instead of overriding it.

Plug

• Saving the plug address no longer erases an account email/password already stored in tapologin.env. A successful Test still replaces them with the derived key.

Download

Strom-0.3.6-x86_64.AppImage can replace a previous AppImage in place; settings and credentials stay in the user configuration directory.

Verify the download

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS

Strom Alpha 0.3.5

Self-contained Linux AppImage (x86_64) for Strom 0.3.5.

Replaces a previous AppImage in place; settings and credentials
stay in the user configuration directory.

Build provenance

Verify the download

Strom Alpha 0.3.4

Strom Alpha 0.3.4 is a pre-release of the Strom desktop application for Linux x86-64. Expect changes and report issues as you try it.

Changes since 0.3.3

Fixes

• Fixed release-page links from the app. Qt handed the browser the AppImage's own library path, which could stop it from starting while the app still reported success. Links now open with a clean environment, and if no browser starts, the address is shown so you can copy it.
• Closing the window while the About or setup-help dialog was open now closes the dialog too, instead of leaving it floating over a hidden window.
• The silent update check on startup, which the README described, now actually runs.

Setup

• The first step is now the language and the Spain note, with a button to contribute support for other countries. The city moved to the weather step.
• Steps are clearer: a tick stepper, a card per step, short field labels, and no placeholder text.

Plug

• The TP-Link account is optional and folded away. Many plugs work with just the IP address; Strom tries default and blank credentials first.
• When the account is needed, it goes only to the plug on the local network, and Strom keeps a derived key instead of the password.

Install or upgrade

Download the AppImage from the releases page and run it. Gear Lever instructions are in the README.

Installs running 0.3.1 or later can update in place from Help → Check for updates. Your settings and credentials stay in the existing configuration directory.

Full changes since 0.3.3

Strom Alpha 0.3.3

Strom Alpha 0.3.3 is a pre-release of the Strom desktop application for Linux x86-64. Expect changes and report issues as you try it.

Changes since 0.3.2

Fixes

• Fixed Update and restart: the old window closed but the updated app never appeared. Qt kills the running child when the process object that started it is destroyed, so the replacement is now started detached, outside the old window's process tree.
• Versions 0.3.1 and 0.3.2 can still update in place: the new version detects an older launcher, starts an independent copy of itself, and exits before the old window's cleanup can stop it.
• Startup recovery of an interrupted update now runs on every start, not only when the automatic update check is enabled.
• Translated the remaining Spanish text in the update dialog and About window, including the Open the release page button, download progress, the unknown-version label, and the install-capability messages.

Install or upgrade

Download Strom-0.3.3-x86_64.AppImage and SHA256SUMS, then run:

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS
chmod +x Strom-0.3.3-x86_64.AppImage
./Strom-0.3.3-x86_64.AppImage

If FUSE is unavailable, launch with --appimage-extract-and-run.

Installs running 0.3.1 or 0.3.2 can update in place from Help → Check for updates. Your settings and credentials stay in the existing configuration directory.

Current limits

Linux x86-64 only, with an Ubuntu 22.04 compatibility baseline. The GUI runs one heating cycle at a time, and with automatic repeats Strom must stay running. Charts, time-of-day scheduling, autostart, device discovery, manual ON/OFF controls and a house-parameter editor are not included.

Full changes since 0.3.2

Strom Alpha 0.3.2

Strom Alpha 0.3.2 is a pre-release of the Strom desktop application for Linux x86-64. Expect changes and report issues as you try it.

Changes since 0.3.1

Setup and heating flow

• Added a four-step setup indicator with completion ticks; Manage accounts opens the first incomplete step.
• Moved the language selector into the header and replaced the one-option country dropdown with a Spain note.
• Added a Test button per account that runs the real check (weather request, published-price query, plug discovery) and reports whether it works, so typos are caught during setup.
• Start heating is disabled until setup is complete, with per-account status chips and a Finish setup action.
• Replaced the raw state label with plain words (Ready, Working…, Done, Couldn't finish) plus elapsed time, and moved the planning horizon under More options.
• Every finished run now shows how long the heater was on and the estimated cost.
• Added Keep running automatically, on by default: the next run starts when the current one finishes, and a failed run stops repeats.
• Closing the window during a run now hides it to the system tray with a completion notification; Quit from the tray waits for the run. Without a tray, the previous close refusal remains.
• Added About Strom, a heading and default action in the update dialog, and provider-qualified Spanish copy (clave de OpenWeatherMap, token de ENTSO-E) including translated validation errors.

Fixes

• Fixed the updater's download progress never reaching the dialog, check-during-install races, split ack-payload reads, and leaked staging or backup files.
• Fixed --horizon-hours 1 crashing with a division by zero; the minimum is now 2.
• Fixed API keys loaded from an explicit --config-dir being ignored at fetch time.
• Fixed weather interpolation rejecting gaps within the documented bound.

Install or upgrade

Download Strom-0.3.2-x86_64.AppImage and SHA256SUMS, then run:

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS
chmod +x Strom-0.3.2-x86_64.AppImage
./Strom-0.3.2-x86_64.AppImage

If FUSE is unavailable, launch with --appimage-extract-and-run.

Installs running 0.3.1 can update in place from Help → Check for updates. Your settings and credentials stay in the existing configuration directory.

Current limits

Linux x86-64 only, with an Ubuntu 22.04 compatibility baseline. The GUI runs one heating cycle at a time, and with automatic repeats Strom must stay running. Charts, time-of-day scheduling, autostart, device discovery, manual ON/OFF controls and a house-parameter editor are not included.

Full changes since 0.3.1

Strom Alpha 0.3.1

Strom Alpha 0.3.1 is a pre-release of the Strom desktop application for Linux x86-64. Expect changes and report issues as you try it.

What it can do

• Plan cost-aware heating using weather forecasts and Spanish day-ahead electricity prices, then run one control cycle with a supported Tapo smart plug.
• Guide you through language and location selection, weather and electricity-price credentials, and smart-plug account setup. English and Spanish are available; location and electricity-price support currently focuses on Spain.
• Save account details locally, show configuration readiness, and let you choose a planning horizon of 1–48 hours.
• Ask for confirmation before operating the real plug, and show the cycle's output through optional technical details.
• Check for newer releases and, on supported writable AppImage installations, download, verify, install and restart into an update without interrupting a running heating cycle.
• Run as a self-contained AppImage without installing Python or checking out the source. Settings and credentials remain outside the AppImage.

Changes since 0.3.0a1

• Added a dedicated first setup step for location and language, before configuring weather, electricity prices and the smart plug.
• Added the Help menu's Check for updates action, a silent startup check, release details, and Update and restart for supported AppImage installations.
• Added checksum verification, an offline candidate self-test, transactional replacement, backups and restart recovery to the updater. Manual download remains available for installations that cannot update in place.
• Fixed retained network response buffers that could break paginated release checks and checksum verification after checking for an update.
• Fixed staging filenames so interrupted staged updates can pass journal ownership validation and recover correctly.
• Fixed redirect limits so repeated supported-host redirects cannot loop indefinitely.
• Fixed duplicate main-window construction and the duplicate Help menu.

Install or upgrade

Download Strom-0.3.1-x86_64.AppImage and SHA256SUMS, then run:

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS
chmod +x Strom-0.3.1-x86_64.AppImage
./Strom-0.3.1-x86_64.AppImage

If FUSE is unavailable, launch with --appimage-extract-and-run.

Upgrading from 0.3.0a1 requires a manual download: that release does not contain the new updater. Keep your existing configuration directory to retain settings and credentials.

Current limits

Linux x86-64 only, with an Ubuntu 22.04 compatibility baseline. The GUI runs one heating cycle at a time and must remain open until it finishes. Charts, recurring scheduling, tray integration, device discovery, manual ON/OFF controls and a house-parameter editor are not included.

Full changes since 0.3.0a1

Strom Alpha 0.3.0

Self-contained Linux AppImage (x86_64) for Strom Alpha 0.3.0.

Replaces a previous AppImage in place; settings and credentials
stay in the user configuration directory.

Build provenance

Verify the download

Pre-release: this version is not final; expect changes.