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Topic: Q2 Wi-Fi Internet Radio

This is the answer I received from the Q2 support:
"I'm afraid there is no firmware we can share with you, but you may find the following article helpful."

https://support.q2radio.co.uk/portal/en/kb/articles/q2-radio-linux-unsupported-workaround-for-manual-insertion-of-internet-radio-url-s



Quote:
I've also found this:

Q. How do I update the firmware on my Q2 Radio?

Answer:

The setup application also provides a mechanism for updating the firmware. Before you begin make sure that the computer the application is running on and the Radio are both connected to the internet. When the Application detects the radio it will check to see if there are updates available and alert you.

Ok, good. 
What we would need then is the communication between the radio, pc and the internet server.
Preferrably made on the moment a firmware update is available. 
This could be obtained using wireshark and making a log. 
The bad part is that there are probably no more updates delivered to the radios either because a) the radios are all up-to-date or b) the server has been turned off as there is no more support.
Possibly someone made this in the past...

 

Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Q2 Wi-Fi Radio is a product of Armour Home Electronics.
But, Armour Home Electronics itself does not talk about the Q2 Radio on its pages.

The product page also does not contain any currently useful information.

(Last Edited by Nobi on February 9, 2025, 9:39 am)
Thank you for your feedback.
I guess we should search for the firmware in the "Wayback Machine" more intensively.
I would love to keep these nice little radios alive.
I've also found this:

Q. How do I update the firmware on my Q2 Radio?

Answer:

The setup application also provides a mechanism for updating the firmware. Before you begin make sure that the computer the application is running on and the Radio are both connected to the internet. When the Application detects the radio it will check to see if there are updates available and alert you.
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Hi Wiliam, Hi Nobi.

Found something new!

I've received a message from the Q2 support this morning.

I believe this link below should help a lot:

https://support.q2radio.co.uk/portal/en/kb/articles/q2-radio-linux-unsupported-workaround-for-manual-insertion-of-internet-radio-url-s

Please leave a message and tell me what you think.

Thanks a lot again for your help.




Quote:
Quote:
Q2 Wi-Fi Radio is a product of Armour Home Electronics.
But, Armour Home Electronics itself does not talk about the Q2 Radio on its pages.

The product page also does not contain any currently useful information.

(Last Edited by Nobi on February 9, 2025, 9:39 am)
Thank you for your feedback.
I guess we should search for the firmware in the "Wayback Machine" more intensively.
I would love to keep these nice little radios alive.
I've also found this:

Q. How do I update the firmware on my Q2 Radio?

Answer:

The setup application also provides a mechanism for updating the firmware. Before you begin make sure that the computer the application is running on and the Radio are both connected to the internet. When the Application detects the radio it will check to see if there are updates available and alert you.




Quote:
Q2 Wi-Fi Radio is a product of Armour Home Electronics.
But, Armour Home Electronics itself does not talk about the Q2 Radio on its pages.

The product page also does not contain any currently useful information.

(Last Edited by Nobi on February 9, 2025, 9:39 am)
Thank you for your feedback.
I guess we should search for the firmware in the "Wayback Machine" more intensively.
I would love to keep these nice little radios alive.

Q2 Wi-Fi Radio is a product of Armour Home Electronics.
But, Armour Home Electronics itself does not talk about the Q2 Radio on its pages.

The product page also does not contain any currently useful information.

(Last Edited by Nobi on February 9, 2025, 9:39 am)

Hi, I checked the packages but there is no firmware update inside. 
I also can not yet find a firmware update online.
This makes things a lot harder to work on.

Hi Larry,
  I don't know when William will report.

Unfortunately I can't say anything about this business. I  looked at the two presented links.

http://www.q2radio.co.uk/downloads.htm

This page does not exist for me. Does access to 'downloads' only work for registered users?

https://q2-internet-radio.updatestar.com/de

The UpdateStar knows that there is a Q2 radio, but nothing else.
Or can I not handle the UpdateStar properly?

Quote:
Quote:
Hi,

Technically it should be possible to make changes to have data supplied from the server to the device in the correct format.
The main problem is probably how to get the device to look for that data. Eg. we would need a way to path the device firmware so that it will not look at vtuner anymore or we need to be able to take over the domain name.
Since vtuner is still operational we wont be able to take over the domain.
So the only way would be if we could modify the device's firmware. Do you have any firmware update files for your Q2?

Here is something I have just found.
I hope this helps:

http://www.q2radio.co.uk/downloads.htm

https://q2-internet-radio.updatestar.com/de

Hi Wiliam.
Have you already checked the pages with the software for the Q2 radio?
Is there any hope of saving this unique radio and rewriting the firmware?
A short message from you would be nice.
Thank you.


Quote:
Quote:
Hi,

Technically it should be possible to make changes to have data supplied from the server to the device in the correct format.
The main problem is probably how to get the device to look for that data. Eg. we would need a way to path the device firmware so that it will not look at vtuner anymore or we need to be able to take over the domain name.
Since vtuner is still operational we wont be able to take over the domain.
So the only way would be if we could modify the device's firmware. Do you have any firmware update files for your Q2?

Here is something I have just found.
I hope this helps:

http://www.q2radio.co.uk/downloads.htm

https://q2-internet-radio.updatestar.com/de

Hi Wiliam.
Have you already checked the pages with the software for the Q2 radio?
Is there any hope of saving this unique radio and rewriting the firmware?
A short message from you would be nice.
Thank you.


Quote:
Hi,

Technically it should be possible to make changes to have data supplied from the server to the device in the correct format.
The main problem is probably how to get the device to look for that data. Eg. we would need a way to path the device firmware so that it will not look at vtuner anymore or we need to be able to take over the domain name.
Since vtuner is still operational we wont be able to take over the domain.
So the only way would be if we could modify the device's firmware. Do you have any firmware update files for your Q2?

Here is something I have just found.
I hope this helps:

http://www.q2radio.co.uk/downloads.htm

https://q2-internet-radio.updatestar.com/de

(Last Edited by Outrun on January 29, 2025, 7:54 pm)

Hi,

Technically it should be possible to make changes to have data supplied from the server to the device in the correct format.
The main problem is probably how to get the device to look for that data. Eg. we would need a way to path the device firmware so that it will not look at vtuner anymore or we need to be able to take over the domain name.
Since vtuner is still operational we wont be able to take over the domain.
So the only way would be if we could modify the device's firmware. Do you have any firmware update files for your Q2?


Hi Wiliam.
I've received the following message today from the "Q2 Radio community":
"The Q2 Radio platform was first developed over 15 years ago and has always relied entirely on a third party internet portal to enable it to stream internet radio and podcasts. As time has worn on the protocols and methodologies used to deliver these streams have evolved, leaving legacy hardware such as that used by the Q2 radio behind. Nevertheless we have worked hard over the last few years to ensure continued support for the product, but as of this year the vTuner portal has finally shut down the services which made both the Q2 app and the radio itself operational and after some investigation it has become clear there is no way to update or otherwise repair customers’ legacy hardware. This means that the Q2 Radio and its supporting app will no longer work in order to select and stream internet radio and podcasts. We are sorry to have to inform you that in common with many other legacy internet-based services the Q2 Radio story has reached the end.

We thank you for having been part of the Q2 Radio user family over those years.

Sad, but kindest regards"

Now my question to you Wiliam: Can you help in this case? 

Good morning.
I just wanted to ask you William, if you have time to modify the Q2 Radio Software to receive listenlive stations on it.
As I told you, I would love to send you one of these radios to have a closer look.
Are you interested in this job?
If not, just drop a line and let me know.
Thank you very much & have a nice weekend.

Larry


Thank you very much for your quick reply, William.
Would it make sense to send you one of my Q2 radios to do some further testing?
I don't even know, if you have time for this kind of work at the moment.
Of course I would leave a special donate for you...
Please let me know.
Thanks.


At first glance it is hard to tell if anything useful can be done with it.

I did a quick check and installed the software.
Somehow it checks the server to see if a newer firmware is available. 

A first step would be to get hold of the firmware update file or the url to it and see what it looks like..
We also would need to check what the internals of the device are (in terms of main cpu and if there are any debug ports on the pcb..) 

The software (exe file) actually internally contains a zip file that appear to contain all the java classes to control the device.
it looks to be fairly complete and the software even provides for using a display as it contains screens/buttons 
 
http://ua.q2radio.co.uk/portal
http://www.armourhome.co.uk/cubefaq
http://ua.q2radio.co.uk/ssw/index.php?fver=0.38&OS= 
http://www.q2radio.co.uk/downloads.htm 
http://ua.q2radio.co.uk/ssw/index.php
http://armour.vtuner.com/setupapp/armour/asp/BrowseXML/loginXML.asp?
http://armour.vtuner.com/setupapp/armour/asp/BrowseXML/loginXML.asp?token=0  (provides a session token for a login, I figure something like an account/login +password is needed, additionally some blowfish crypto is required) 

In theory it might be possible to replace the java code with modified code that connects to the server here. But that would require lots of testing and a lot of java decompiling etc. 

~W.


Hi guys!
I shortly bought a nice little radio called "Q2".
The stations list is still working with some stations but NOT all.
Stations list is hosted by the "vTuner" site.
The support team from the "Q2" site wrote, that the list is no longer being updated by the "Q2" company.
So I wrote to "vTuner" twice but received no answer.

The Q2 Radio is controlled by a special Software which can be downloaded at their site: http://www.q2radio.co.uk/downloads.htm

My question is:
Is there a way to modify the software to have access to the listenlive database?
I have two of these wonderful little radios and I would love to send one to William to check the situation.

kind regards & thanks...

Larry


(Last Edited by Outrun on November 1, 2022, 11:43 am)

 
 

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