CuBox

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]

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

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

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

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

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

References
  1. "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. 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. "CuBox-i Series Release". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  11. "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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