OK this little client/embedded/hack-in-a-box is of a different color. The Efika (and comming soon, the Efika 2 ) comes to us from Genesi - the same that brought us the Pegasos/Open Desktop Workstation (now discontinued). Its based around Freescale's MPC5200B PowerPC System-on-Chip platform:
Yes - it has less horsepower than the others - but there are a ton of cool projects going on with this platform and I implore you all to check out its developments on Power Developer and this Blog. Lots of great ports are out there to keep you busy including:
Morphos, Ubuntu, QNX, openSUSE, YDL, CruxLinux, NetBSD, Free BSD, Open Solaris, and more.
You can purchase the Efika 5200B motherboard by itself for just $99 USD, or in a few configurations on Genesi's site - including a full desktop solution for $375. The platform is extremely "green" as well. The 5200B platform is a bit non-standard so you will have to get a bit creative in case options or elect to purchase a few pre-fab options.
Assuming you stay away from XGL stuff - from what I understand you can run a pretty useful linux desktop. It appears as though the best desktop solution for the Efika is going to be Morphos v2.0 when released. Looking a SceneCon's movie, (see my previous post on Morphos 2.0), from the show in May
I highly recommend that you also take a look at the EfikaBook here. Its translated in many languages as well. There is quite a neat community surrounding the Efika and since its launch some time ago it really seems to be thriving. Which probably accounts for the Efika 2 announcement, which sounds promising.
Do you currently have an Efika? Please post comments on what you are using it for, what distro/os you are using, or if you are working on an embedded project - let me hear about it.
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