Recently, I got a grip to a Cubox-i4Pro. It is a mini computer with low power demand and quite a few interfaces that can be useful for all kinds of things. Also, it has enough computing power to be interesting for a wide variety of applications.

In contrast to other development boards like the Raspberry Pi, the Cuboxi comes in a closed case and, thus, does not offer a set of hardware interfaces for arbitrary maker projects. It comes, however, in a neat black case that is ready to be put into your living room next to your other (set-top) box.



Introduction

Let us start with a view on the different sides of this tiny little box:

As you might have guessed from the grid lines on the images the dimensions of the Cubox-i are only 2″ x 2″ x 2″.

Hardware

An overview of the technical specifications is given in the following and shows in a plain table what the smallest and the biggest model of the Cubox-i offer. The following table is actually just a copy of the overview table given on the manufacturer’s website:

Cubox-i1 Cubox-i4Pro Chipset i.MX6 Solo i.MX6 Quad Core count 1 @ 1 GHz 4 @ 1 GHz Memory size 512MByte DDR3 2GByte DDR3 Memory Config 32 bit @ 800Mbps 64 bit @ 1066Mbps 3D GPU GC880 GC2000 3D GPU Type OpenGL/ES 1.1/2.0 OpenGL/ES 1.1/2.0,OpenCL 1.1E HW Video Dec/Enc Multi Format Multi Format HDMI 1080p 1.4, 3D support 1.4, 3D support Ethernet 10/100 Mbps 10/100/1000 Mbps (*) USB 2.0 Host 2 x Hosts 2x Hosts WiFi 11n/BlueTooth no yes Micro SD Interface yes yes eSata II 3Gbps no yes RTC With Backup Battery no yes Optical S/PDIFAudio Out yes yes Micro USB to RS-232 no yes InfraRed for Remote Control Receiver Receiver and Transmitter

First Use

There is a bunch of different operating system images available for the Cubox-i. Zou can find an overview about these images in the Cubox-i wiki. To begin with, I decided to take a closer look at the Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center (OpenELEC), whose official website can be found here.

Getting things to work was as easy as copying the image to the micro sd card and plugging power to the Cubox-i. I used an old Microsoft X-Box remote control that I happened to find in one of my cabinets. The remote control was recognized without any configuration and I was able to configure XBMC with it.

Emulation on the Cubox-i4

So far, I did not have detailed look at the possibilities of the Cubox-i regarding emulators and their performance. With a However, with a Debian distribution and working drivers it might be possible that some of the emulators, that are part of the RetroPie Project, can be used on the Cubox-i.

Plans are to test which of the components of the RetroPie-Setup Script can be used on the Cubox-i. If this turns out to be successful to a certain extend, the RetroPie-Setup Scriot could be adapted to also support the Cubox-i.

Conclusion and Outlook

This concludes the brief glance at the Cubox-i4. This tiny little box certainly is an interesting platform for everyone who is looking for a homemade XBMC-based media center. The Cubox-i comes in a closed case and, thus, does not offer the possibilities attach any kind of hardware to realize arbitrary maker projects. It seems to have enough computing power to be interesting as a gaming station and it still has to be looked at the possibilities of using the RetroPie-Setup Script on the Cubox-i.

This is a brief article. Do you have any related questions or comments? Feel free to post these below!