@Miky060

If you're going ARM with MorphOS, why not aim for the Efika MX instead? (Edit 3: Then you would also get access to the Netbook practically for free (it's virtually the same HW), Efika SmartBook going *MorphBook*! ) Or focusing on the upcoming Efika based on i.MX6 (it's not like a port would happen overnight anyway)?

A little comparison (any claims about the Raspberry PI, in numbers or words, is a cut/paste from the wikipedia page and other online sources):

Memory:
OK, much memory is pleasant to have, but in these kinds of applications it's a trade-off with cost, and 512MB memory actually gets you quite far in most cases where this HW will be used (often more than enough, especially in a MorphOS context).

And the Raspberry has *half* of this (and half of this is reserved for the GPU), so you are down to Efika 5200 levels, meaning special version of Odyssey, etc to handle this limitations...

Processor:
The Raspberry's BCM2835:
- is ARM11, in other words ARMv6, which due to its age is no longer supported by several popular Linux distros, including Ubuntu.
- Level 2 Cache is 128 KB, used primarily by the GPU, not the CPU
- It's only 1.25 DMIPS/MHz
- It's only clocked at 700MHz.

The i.MX51 in the Efika MX:
- is ARMv7, IMHO MorphOS would be better off with this ISA instead, since all Cortex-A8, A9 and A15 uses this ISA, and future 64-bit ARMv8 CPU's will be backwards (ARMv7) compatible.
- Has 256KB L2 cache
- Has NEON SIMD (think Altivec, but not quite as powerful)
- 2.0 DMIPS/MHz
- is clocked at 800MHz.

General differencies:
The Efika MX:
- Has WiFI (and also Ethernet of course)
- Has a 8GB Internal SSD, with a pretty decent performance actually
- Audio jacks for headset (yes, including audio *IN*)
- Has a built-in speaker
- Comes in a real case
- Comes with power supply and cables (contents of the package)

The Raspberry:
- Nope!

What would a realistic assumption be about the differences in the overall desktop use performance, between the Raspberry and the Efika, adding together the combined effect of the lower clock frequency, the much lower DMIPS/MHz, the lower RAM, the lower L2 cache and no NEON? The Raspberry having half of Efikas performance? You tell me...
(EDIT: 1.25 * 700 = 875 DMIPS, vs. 2 * 800 = 1600 DMIPS, about half there already, before even adding the impact of any of the other variables)

While I actually understands that a price tag at a quarter of the Efika MX would seem cool at a first glance, it's also worth noting that the Raspberry falls very short of the Efika's level of performance, specification, functionality and usability. In fact, I think this could be too limited to actually be useful for real. It's more of a toy. The final version of this could possibly be sold as a naked PCB at a similar price, or at least not very far off, and it would offer a lot more than the Raspberry. But the question is - Why?

I mean, if you add the very *basics* to the Raspberry PI in order to get it up and running, like...

Case: ~$15 to $45
8 GB storage: ~$20
Power cables and transformer: ~$20 (I don't know what they charged, but these kind of things usually costs about this, or a bit more)

...and you aren't at $35 anymore, but have been crawling quite far up in Efika MX price range (almost all the way, but not in performance, features and usability). There are hidden costs! Many a little makes a mickle. And the Efika MX is still *very low cost*, not particularly expensive at all!

(EDIT 2: The Raspberry Pi has a lot of focus though, a lot of attention, which could mean something to an OS who's main strengths are low footprint and resource efficiency, but if "$35" is the key reason to your Raspberry purchase, chances are that €111 won't be that appealing)

[ Edited by takemehomegrandma 17.03.2012 - 09:17 ]