> a few years back the 5121 would have been nice, but today it is too little. does
> your cherry pal replay DVD quality video? I think that would be minimum today.

I think that need for DVD quality video replay capability is not something that came up only during the last 3 years ;-)

> And a bit too much for teh e300/400.

Does anybody know if the AXE unit is actually used on the MPC5121e based devices from THTF/MTC/LimePC/Cherrypal running Linux?

> *If* freescale came out with asome 512x sporting an e300/600 that could be
> something interesting still.

It's not that there're no 600+ MHz e300 core based processors:

http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=MPC8347E
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=MPC8349E
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=MPC8360E
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=MPC8377E
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=MPC8378E
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=MPC8379E

Why not take PowerQUICC II Pro (starting at 39.12 USD for 667 MHz MPC8377E, 46.16 USD for 800 MHz) instead of MobileGT (starting at 22.08 USD for 400 MHz MPC5121e) if it must be e300?

The cheapest one is also the most desktop suited one. MPC8377E has DDR2 RAM controller, one PCI, two PCIe x1 (or one PCIe x2), two SATA2, two GbE, USB 2.0. Anything important missing with that chip? Ah yes, a GPU and AC'97. These are the only real disadvantages I can spot over the MPC5121e. For that, a single chip like the SM502 (which is on the Sam460EX) combining 2D GPU and AC'97 (and more) might be sufficient.

Discussions of the MPC8377E:
http://www.powerdeveloper.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1502
http://www.powerdeveloper.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1478&start=75 (I see that you took part in that one)
https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=6096&forum=11&start=40#60451

> they never said they left ppc world totally and forever.

You don't have to say you leave something totally and forever to leave it totally and forever ;-)