Reciva == EOL -> Reviva!

Ben

29. Dez. 2021 • 3 min read

So when i turned on my internet enabled Radio Okano Tr2608i (rebranded Sanyo R227), nothing played. It normally takes a while to boot, but even after waiting for a couple of minutes, there was no music.

When i checked the display, it said there was a network problem and if a firewall blocked some port. Uh, nothing changed in the homenetwork. Hm.

A quick research then showed: Reciva, the internet radio directory listing provider which the device uses (more precicely: the company that offered the services and developed the firmware), ceased operation in may 2021 (announced) but now in september 2021 actually turned off their servers.

This was all announced quite some time back, but how on earth would i see such a detail? The device simply worked. But i guess thats the fate of all internet-connected devices eventually?

There are some posts about how to configure presets with a fixed radio station (here in german), but they need the reciva webportal, so that does not work anymore.

I figured, maybe just spoof some DNS entries so the radio thinks its connected to Reciva but gets its directory from somewhere else. Didnt find anything in that direction.

Then there is an effort to build a custom firmware for the device, but it seems a bit of an effort to get it running.

Next idea was to use the UPnP function (DLNA) of the device to play a source from the network which happens to be an internet radio, and bingo, if you have a fritzbox, that functionality is built-in.

Since i dont have one, this post mentioned the opensource server gerbera which happens to have this functionality as well, the linked github issue is even a feature request to mirror a complete shoutcast directory. Unfortunately, the Okano does not understand/see the external link resource, so it cant play it. Playing offline files works just fine.

So buy a new device? But which one? And the old one works just fine hardware wise (except the FM tuner has bad reception).

Back to the custom sharpfin firmware approach. In the projects github issues was a helpful link to those instructions (and its discussion). And guess what, it was very easy! Thanks to David!

First of all, download all required files. Unfortunately, the links in the sharpfin wiki are wrong and i cant register an account to fix them, so use the file list special page to look for the files, namely:

Patchserver 0.5.tar.bz2 (if you are on linux, otherwise the ZIP for windows) - note: the 0.5 version works better than the 0.7 version. The archive also contains a PDF howto, or see here.
Sharpfin-base_0.3.patch
Sharpfin-www_0.9.install

Extract the patchserver and copy the other files into its folder.

On a recent ubuntu, you have to stop the systemd DNS server via

$ sudo systemctl stop systemd-resolved.service

Then start the patchserver as root (required to access the special ports for webserver and DNS)

$ sudo ./patchserver

Accept the terms by pressing y then provide the filename of the first patch Sharpfin-base_0.3.patch. Also supply the real DNS server of your network, e.g. your routers IP or some public DNS.

On the radio go to settings -> network config -> edit config and switch from DHCP to static, provide all the network information BUT set the DNS server to the IP address of the computer running the patchserver (and dont set a second DNS server).

Then go back to settings -> upgrade firmware, confirm with YES and wait and see (might display its status on the radio). At the end, the device will reboot.

Repeat for the Sharpfin-www_0.9.install. Then follow the instructions from David and update via the webserver running on the radio or just download the files and install them via patchserver (first sharpfin-ep2.install, then Sharpfin-media-server-1.0.install).

To configure your radio stations, create a m3u file like the following (the links must be http not https and point directly to an mp3, not pls or m3u)

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:Antenne Bayern
http://mp3channels.webradio.antenne.de/antenne
#EXTINF:Bayern3
http://f121.rndfnk.com/ard/br/br3/live/mp3/128/stream.mp3
#EXTINF:EgoFM
http://egofm-ais-edge-3007-fra-eco-cdn.cast.addradio.de/egofm/live/mp3/high/stream.mp3
#EXTINF:SomaFM
http://ice2.somafm.com/live-128-mp3

Open the webinterface on your radio and under RADIO home select Stations Manage (right below the top menu) and upload your m3u file there.

Then again on the radio select media player -> UPNP Servers -> Browse radio: 1 -> Stations and your configured stations should show up and are ready to be played :)

Since the reciva services are shutdown, the radio cant find the index server on bootup, a fix for this is mentioned here along with a fix for the NTP setup.