That's tempting... Along the $99 theme, another option is the Linksys NSLU2 'slug' platform. It is sold as a USB hard drive serving appliance and there is a thriving linux community behind supporting a linux distribution on the device itself. The bonus here is that there are already USB ports on the device itself so your serial access is easy. Very low power as well so it would be a cool little digi.. The bonus is that there is a digi_ned package in their repository already built for the device. Unfortunately no igate package, but this would work for a remote site or portable digi. (one of the head nslu2-linux developers is a ham)

Even then, doesn't the OT2 perform as a standalone digi itself? I've been considering one for my portable digi.. The KPC3 won't run for more than an hour now after its acid bath, so I can't rely on it for a digi.

Another cheap xastir client idea: The Asus eeePC's.. They are down to about $250 at Target, already run Linux, and are very portable (long battery life, light weight, and will run off of straight 12v making them great for your car or any powerpole source). I originally bought mine with Xastir in mind and I have it setup to do that as needed, but it spends more time as my home rig control and HF digital system. There's something cool about plugging a netbook into the rigrunner, which in turn gets its power from a battery + solar. :)

Cheers,
-Corey KB9JHU

You're right, and I was wrong about the Sheeva.. I read a little more about it. I wasn't aware at first that there was already USB on board, I thought it was just an ethernet wallwart.

So yeah, add a USB-to-serial dongle ($10), an opentracker1+ in KISS mode ($36) and a radio and you've got a full digi+igate. You wouldn't need an OT2 if this thing has enough processing power in it to run digi_ned (which doesn't take much) and do the digipeating itself.

Cheers,
-Corey KB9JHU