Hi guys, I am a new owner of the Linux ID41 ZBOX and have decided to join the XBMC community to share my experience.
I purchased my new Linux ID41 with XBMC preloaded last week from Fry's, and am surprisingly pleased with it so far.
I am a long time Ubuntu fan, and have tested a few of the ZBOXs for personal HTPC projects in the past few years.
I have had many issues in the past with other models of the ZBOX, spent frustrating months on finding compatible drivers to have it work properly.
This ZBOX works perfectly out of the box, boots right into Ubuntu 11.10 and XBMC. I plugged in my USB HDD and was able to playback my 1080p MKV files flawlessly with HD audio from HDMI output
(an issue I've had in the past with ZBOX). When I quit XBMC, I can fully use the Unity Desktop as my web browser and PC. I am also pleased to see the WIFI fully working out of the box, as well as HD flash playback even in full screen mode. (another huge issue I've had in the past with ZBOX and Ubuntu)
I am happy to see Zotac taking the time to work out previous compatibility issues and bugs, and pre-install Ubuntu and XBMC on the ID41 ZBOX. I have used my new ZBOX for an entire week now without turning it off, and have not seen any thermal issues or resuming the screen when I needed. I installed "NAVI-X" plugin on XBMC, then canceled my cable subscription.
The only complaints I have for this unit, is the lack of SSD and RAM upgrade option from Fry's and Zotac website. Also, I would of installed the 64 bit version of Ubuntu instead of the 32 bit that comes pre-installed. However, I don't see any performance issues with the 32 bit that comes with the unit and I guess it would save me headaches on 64 bit compatibility issues.
Also, since the release of this unit Ubuntu 12.04 LTS has been released so I would recommend upgrading as well.
Will report back any bugs or issues that I see, downloading more apps from the Ubuntu Software Center as I type