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CuBox
i.MX6-based CuBox (2014)
Common manufacturersMarvell or Freescale Semiconductor
Design firmSolidRun
IntroducedCuBox
11 December 2011 (2011-12-11)[1]
Cost99 euro (~US$135)
TypeSingle-board computer
ProcessorMarvell Armada 510 ARMv7 or i.MX6
FrequencyFrom 800 MHz and upwards
MemoryFrom 1 GB and upwards
CoprocessorVFPv3 (VFP/FPU)
WMMX / WMMX2 SIMD
vMeta Video Decoder
Vivante GC600 GPU
Two XOR/DMA Engines and PDMA
TrustZone CESA
PMU (Power Management Unit)
PortsHDMI 1.3 with CEC
S/PDIF (optical output)
1000baseT Ethernet
2 × USB 2.0 host ports
1 × eSATA (3 Gbit/sec)
IrDA (InfraRed) receiver
MicroUSB (console only)
MicroSD slot (comes with 2 GB MicroSD SDXC, upgradable to 64 GB)
Power consumption3 W @ 5 V, 2 A DC
Weight~91 g
Dimensions55 × 55 × 42 mm

CuBox and CuBox-i are series of small and fanless nettop-class computers manufactured by the Israeli company SolidRun Ltd. They are all cube-shaped and sized at approximately 2 × 2 × 2 inches (5 cm) and weigh 91 grams (0.2 lb, or 3.2 oz).[2] CuBox was first announced in December 2011 and began shipping in January 2012, initially being marketed as a cheap open-source developer platform for embedded systems.[1][3][4][5][6][7][8]

The first-generation CuBox was according to SolidRun the first commercially available desktop computer based on the Marvell Armada 500-series SoC (System-on-Chip) and at the time was said to be the world's smallest desktop computer.[9]

In November 2013, SolidRun released the Cubox-i1, i2, i2eX, and i4Pro, containing i.MX6 processors.[10][11]

Overview

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CuBox is a low-power computer based on ARM-architecture CPU, using the Marvell Armada 510 (88AP510) SoC with an ARM v6/v7-compliant superscalar processor core, Vivante GC600 OpenGL 3.0 and OpenGL ES 2.0 capable 2D/3D graphics processing unit, Marvell vMeta HD Video Decoder hardware engine, and TrustZone security extensions, Cryptographic Engines and Security Accelerator (CESA) co-processor.[5][12]

Despite being about 2-inch-square in size, the platform can stream and decode 1080p content, use desktop-class interfaces such as KDE or GNOME under Linux, while requiring less than 3 watts and less than 1 watt in standby.[13]

SolidRun currently officially only supports Linux kernel 2.6.x or later and Android 2.2.x and later. It comes with Ubuntu Desktop 10.04 and Android 2.2 dual-boot pre-installed.[1]

Newer models

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In November 2013, SolidRun released a family of CuBox-i computers named CuBox-i1, i2, i2eX, and i4Pro, containing a range of different i.MX6 processors by Freescale Semiconductor.[10][11]

They have also released a series of caseless i.MX6 models called the Hummingboard.[14]

CuBoxTV

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Announced in December 2014, CuBoxTV is a mid-range and simplified version of the CuBox-i computer. It is designed to exclusively operate KODI (formerly known as XBMC) on an OpenELEC operating system.[15]

CuBoxTV weighs approximately 9.9 ounces (280 g), and is around 2X2 Inches wide and 1.8 inches high, shaped like a cube with rounded sides. It features an i.MX6 Quad core processor at a 1GHz speed, 1GB of RAM memory, 8GB base storage memory and a GC2000 OpenGL quad shader GPU. It houses a couple of USB 2.0 ports, a HDMI port, microSD port and an Ethernet port.[16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "CuBox Developer Platform Announcement". Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2012. CuBox Developer Platform Announcement
  2. ^ http://www.cnx-software.com/2013/09/05/solidrun-announces-cubox-i-platform-with-freescale-i-mx6-for-as-low-as-45/ SolidRun Announces Cubox-i Platform with Freescale i.MX6 for as low as $45.
  3. ^ CuBox is a sexy, ice cube-sized ARM computer Archived 8 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ^ CuBox – Ice Cube Sized ARM Computer.
  5. ^ a b Android-ready ARM mini-HTPC costs $130, uses just three Watts.
  6. ^ Solid-Run CuBox: Open Source Platform for Android TV, Media Center and NAS Development.
  7. ^ Move over Raspberry Pi: CuBox enters the fray with 1GB DDR3 RAM, dualcore CPU, HDMI, GBit LAN… all inside a cubed box Archived 10 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ^ Meet CuBox – A Tiny ARM Powered Media Centre Capable of Running Ubuntu.
  9. ^ Solid-Run CuBox: World's Smallest HTPC (video).
  10. ^ a b "CuBox-i Series Release". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  11. ^ a b "CuBox-i Hardware". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  12. ^ Marvell expands range of ARM SoCs Archived 25 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ^ XBMC on SolidRun Platform named CuBox on YouTube.
  14. ^ "Hummingboard Release". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  15. ^ Lehrbaum, Rick (20 December 2014). "Hands-on review: CuBoxTV running OpenELEC+Kodi and Android". LinuxGizmos.com. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  16. ^ "CuBoxTV Tech Specs". CuBoxTV.com. Archived from the original on 2 June 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
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