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I like using Linux boxes with packet-forwarder turned on in the kernel, and using either IPTables or firewalld, depending on your flavor. I then use my "router" to serve me web content and handle my VPN for me while I'm away from home. Oh, and I would highly recommend something like this: tiny PC with multiple 1GB NIC ports, Wifi, BT, etc... so you can have a WAN and a LAN port. It is easier to configure it this way.

A Cubox is not substantially different from a Raspberry Pi, it's just slightly more compact and comes pre-assembled. You can put Kodi on it, though it looks like that might be installed by default now.

Just bear in mind that it has the same limitations as a Raspberry Pi: it can be a fine media player, but it won't handle the DRM'd stuff. So no Netflix or Amazon Prime, but it does have a Youtube plugin (unless the situation with Netflix has changed?). It's also more expensive than a Raspberry Pi, but not if you get it used off of Ebay like I did.

Mine wasn't one of them, and I went out of my way to make sure that my Model B (512MB) wasn't going to be from China. Mine ended up being a Embest knockoff due to them shipping the US with them over "capacity concerns".

Went with a CuBox i4pro from SolidRun. Unlike the knockoff R.Pi predecessor, USB, Ethernet, and wireless aren't at odds with each other. Nice thing is that it's also being actively developed.

WTF are you on about? From the fucking site, "The package includes : ClearFog Base + MicroSoM A388", and it starts at $90.

And who in the HELL would compare this in any way to a Raspberry Pi? The Pi has one 100-megabit (actually more like half of one 100-megabit). This has two gigabits.

Finally, what kind of lightweight thinks that "serious networking" requires WiFi, or that something with one half of one ethernet port is usable in any way as a router? Nobody said anything about wireless access points.

On page 5 of the data sheet Next to the MicroSD slot.

Front-end is Kodi on OpenElec running on a CuBox-i. Back-ends are several VMs. One VM is running a MythTV Back-end server recording from a roof antenna connected to a couple of HDHomeRun boxes saving to a mounted NFS QNAP 12 TB array. Other VMs run Sonarr, Sabnzbd and Sickbeard. Sorarr is also using a Transmission back-end, while Sabnzbd is using a Usenet subscription. Occasionally I also use Netflix and Vudu on a Roku stick which I turn on only when I need it. I white list every device and every port individually, and all things that could be considered borderline legal go through a permanent VPN link on my pfSense VM. Rock solid setup.

If you don't mind spending a bit more, there is the hummingboard which has a better USB implementation and options for gigabit ethernet/wifi/bluetooth. In addition, it runs more conventional distributions of Linux (iirc, Debian armhf).

So you want to have your cake and eat it to is what you're saying?

The lack of CPU power isn't just to save money, it's to make it more efficient. Getting a faster CPU very well could make battery and solar not an option and therefor reduce use-cases far more than the lack of cycles does. About the only big use case that it fails on because of the CPU is the MediaPC angle. And there are alternatives for that all over the place.

http://www.solid-run.com/wiki/...
http://www.bananapi.org/p/prod...
Keep in mind, both of those use at least double the power as a standard RPI. If you're running them on AC or in your car, no big deal... but not so hot for science experiments or weather balloons.

The use case for swapping the CPU/RAM module yourself looks pretty weak; but it would appear to make sense for the manufacturer: This 'hummingboard' appears to be their existing 'MicroSOM' product attached to a fairly rPi-like breakout board.

If they already make and sell those, they'd likely have to churn out a lot of hummingboards before the savings on connectors makes it worthwhile to integrate the CPU directly with the board.

Just get a CuBox-i. 2"x2"x2" cube, available in three editions. The quad-core with 2 GB of RAM version that's equivalent to this Amazon thing is $130 and it has a microSD card slot, so you can fill it with as much or as little flash memory as you feel like paying for. I run Android on mine, but it also boots any of several different Linux distributions. It doesn't come with a remote or a game controller, but it has USB, and the quad-core version has BlueTooth. All versions have an IR receiver. No Amazon prime subscription needed, no custom manufacturer-mangled smart TV version of Android required, and it has access to the Google Play store.

Small business that doesn't have a "tie the world to our services" agenda can still deliver a product designed for customers, rather than consumers.

Dang, replying to my own post here... just a little research revealed that you can get console IO through the USB ports: http://www.solid-run.com/mw/index.php?title=CuBox_serial_port

Still haven't found anything about GPU acceleration in a headless setup.

470Mb you get in the $95 and $120 CuBox models

Some people get over 800Mb/s. But YMMV.

Possibly, yes. I can see how the Beagleboard and the Pandaboard split up use cases, the Beagleboard for the lower end, the Pandaboard for the higher end.

BTW, the CuBox platform has Serial ATA and Gigabit Ethernet, and comes with a case. It does cost considerably more, though (about $120).

There's the Cubox and the Cubieboard. I have the former running as NAS and (XBMC) media center with a couple of HDDs attached.