> go to bPlan, have them desing a REALISTIC computer for you, and insist in
> making them solder down one of those rare Transputer things, to have that
> "unique" spec no one else has.

I see no way how bplan could have developed a PA6T and XCore based board significantly cheaper to build than Varisys did. Likewise I don't see why Varisys couldn't or wouldn't have developed an MPC8610 (or similarly priced processor) based board (with or without XCore) if someone had commissioned them to do so.

"The following core designs are on the shelf to expedite the custom design cycle: PA Semi PA6T-1682M Freescale PowerPC MPC8641, MPC74xx, MPC86xx [...]".
http://www.varisys.co.uk/services.html

Bottom line: I don't see anything bad per se in choosing Varisys over bplan.

> the Efika came. It's true it took a very long time to port MorphOS, but I think there were
> also hardware problems that delayed it (see that "B" letter in the CPU name).

Didn't the MorphOS port to the Efika 5200B commence not before Genesi paid for it in January 2007, i.e. when the transition from MPC5200 to MPC5200B was already done?

> it was done ten years ago! It was called Thendic

Ten years ago there was no Thendic in a MorphOS context. They came into play a bit later.