Yes you can move the vacuum pump to wherever you want. The main considerations are how to mount it, how to protect it from rain, and how to route the tube and cable. In v1.3 we’re planning to mount it on the z-axis with a special plate and protecting it with a plastic housing. If you have access to a 3D printer you could make these parts yourself, or wait until we have them as individual items in our online shop.
Also, at this point I wouldn’t necessarily look at the version number as an indication of backwards compatibility. So far we’ve just been incrementing 0.1 with every version we design, prototype, and document. The documentation change logs show what’s different which can indicate backwards compatibility, but it might be better to ask about specific things for the time being.