CuBox-i Quick Start Guide

Revision and Notes

Introduction

The following quick start guide provides background information about the CuBox-i.

The guide will give a technical overview about the product and by the end of it you should be able to boot an operating system and begin testing your application.

Hardware Setup

Product Specifications

Model

CuBox i1

CuBox i2

CuBox i2eX

CuBox i4P

I/Os

2 x USB 2.0
1 x eSATA

2 x USB 2.0
1 x eSATA

2 x USB 2.0
1 x eSATA

2 x USB 2.0
1 x eSATA

Networking

1 x Ethernet RJ45 10/100/1000 (max 470 MB/s)
1 x 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth (2.4 GHz)

1 x Ethernet RJ45 10/100/1000 (max 470 MB/s)
1 x 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth (2.4 GHz)

1 x Ethernet RJ45 10/100/1000 (max 470 MB/s)
1 x 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth (2.4 GHz)

1 x Ethernet RJ45 10/100/1000 (max 470 MB/s)
1 x 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth (2.4 GHz)

Processor

NXP i.MX 6 Single core Arm Cortex A9 up to 1GHz

NXP i.MX 6 Dual Lite core Arm Cortex A9 up to 1GHz

NXP i.MX 6 Dual core Arm Cortex A9 up to 1GHz

NXP i.MX 6 Quad core Arm Cortex A9 up to 1GHz

Memory & Storage

512MB DDR3
8GB eMMC
MicroSD

1GB DDR3
8GB eMMC
MicroSD

1GB DDR3
8GB eMMC
MicroSD

2GB DDR3
8GB eMMC
MicroSD

Display

HDMI

HDMI

HDMI

HDMI

Misc.

Reset button
RTC
IR reciver

Reset button
RTC
IR reciver

Reset button
RTC
IR reciver

Reset button
RTC
IR reciver

Development and Debug interfaces

Micro USB

Micro USB

Micro USB

Micro USB

Power

5V

5V

5V

5V

Expansion card I/Os

None

None

None

None

Temperature

Commercial: 0°C to 40°C

Commercial: 0°C to 40°C

Commercial: 0°C to 40°C

Commercial: 0°C to 40°C

Dimensions

50 x 50 x 50mm

50 x 50 x 50mm

50 x 50 x 50mm

50 x 50 x 50mm

Enclosure

ABS Plastic

ABS Plastic

ABS Plastic

ABS Plastic

 

 

Supported with i.MX6 SOM. For more detailed information about our SOM-i.MX6 series please visit this user manual : i.MX6 SOM Hardware User Manual.

 

Block Diagram

The following figure describes the i.MX6 Block Diagram.

 

Visual features overview

Back HW interfaces

 

Top Hardware View

 

Software Setup

Cable setup and prerequisites

  • Micro USB cable

  • Power supplier : regulated 5V supply with 2A source capacity (3A for CuBox-i4pro)

  • Micro SD card

  • Linux or Windows PC

  • Router or switch with Ethernet cable

Note that using an adaptor with an output voltage which is higher than 5V will damage your device and possibly other connected USB devices.

 

Booting form an SD card

1. Downloading the Debian image

Download the Debian image by running the following command on your Linux/Windows PC:

wget https://solid-run-images.sos-de-fra-1.exo.io/IMX6/Debian/sr-imx6-debian-bullseye-20220712-cli-sdhc.img.xz

2. Writing the image to the SD card

Use the following commands for writing the image to an SD card:

xz -dc sr-imx6-debian-bullseye-20220712-cli-sdhc.img.xz | dd of=/dev/sdX bs=4M conv=fsync

Note: Plug a micro SD into your Linux PC, the following assumes that the micro SD is added as /dev/sdX and all it’s partitions are unmounted.

3. SD card insertion

Please Insert the SD card into your device.

4. Power connection

Connect your power adaptor to the DC jack, and then connect the adaptor to mains supply.

A red LED will light up at the front panel. This is an indication of boot loader firmware is running.If you find you need additional help, please contact us and we’ll do our best to get back to you with more personal support.

5. Serial Connection

Please insert the micro USB into your device, then you can refer to Serial Connection for installing necessary serial connection software in Linux/Windows.

Once you installed the necessary serial connection software, you should be able to see the following:

  • In order to be able to log in , please insert “debian” as a username and password as follows:

Install to eMMC

  • You can follow this document Install to eMMC to install debian to an eMMC device.

More Features

Internet

If you have purchased CuBox-i1 or CuBox-i2 first connect an Ethernet cable to your CuBox-i (for internet access during boot-up). Models CuBox-i2ex and CuBox-i4Pro (Or CuBox i1 / i2 with WiFi function), can be connected via Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet.

  • Please check you Ethernet connection.

  • Use the following commands in order to keep your system up-to-date:

apt-get update apt-get upgrade reboot
Wi-fi

An example for connecting to WiFi using wpa_supplicant:

1. To bring a WiFi interface up, run the following :

ifconfig wlan0 up

To discover your wireless network interface name, see Network Interfaces.

2. Install the wpa_supplicant package:

apt-get install wpasupplicant

3. Edit network interfaces file :

At the bottom of the file, add the following lines to allow wlan as a network connection:

cat <<EOF > /etc/network/interfaces.d/wlan0 allow-hotplug wlan0 iface wlan0 inet dhcp wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf iface default inet dhcp EOF

4. Create a configuration file with the relevant ssid:

cat <<EOF > /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf ctrl_interface=/run/wpa_supplicant update_config=1 network={ ssid="MYSSID" psk="passphrase" } EOF

Check your personal ssids by running : ‘iw dev wlan0 scan’

5. Make sure it works:

Restart your device and it should connect to the wireless network. If it doesn't, repeat above steps or get help from an adult.

Bluetooth

  1. For showing all Bluetooth devices, run the following:

apt-get install bluez hciconfig -a

2. Choose a device, and turn it on:

hciconfig hci0 up

3.Set up the Bluetooth name:

hciconfig hci0 name 'SolidRun_Ble'

4. Make your Bluetooth detectable by other devices:

hciconfig hci0 piscan

5. If you want to connect to other devices:

  • Start by scanning for other Bluetooth devices:

hcitool scan
  • Choose a MAC address and connect :

rfcomm connect 0 $MAC 10 &
  • You can check the communication between the devices by writing :

l2ping -c 4 $MAC

 

Install GUI Support

Note that HDMI doesn’t display anything by default.

Wayland

1. Install weston :

sudo apt install weston
  • Connect your HDMI cable and you should be able to see the following :

By default one application is available, the terminal emulator, at the upper left corner.

2. Start weston FROM A PHYSICAL TERMINAL (from the above terminal, not remote or serial session) :

weston-launch -- --backend=drm-backend.so

Make sure to run the above without sudo.

This will bring up the following:

  • For more applications, you can refer to GUI Support to install X11, OpenGL-ES, GStreamer, or you can follow this page Gnome for installing Gnome desktop.

 

List Of Supported OS

OS

 

OS

 

 

i.MX6 Debian

 

Yocto for i.MX6

 

i.MX6 Archlinux

 

XBian for i.MX6

 

Build U-Boot & Kernel from sources

Documentation

  File Modified

ZIP Archive cubox-i-plastic-model.zip

Oct 10, 2021 by SolidRun

PDF File CuBox-I schematics.pdf

Oct 21, 2021 by SolidRun

 

 

 

SolidRun Ltd.