Open-PC Begins to Take Shape
The Open-PC project initiated by KDE board member Frank Karlitschek has released the specifications for its first computer. The desktop with dual-core Atom processor is due to arrive in February 2010.
"The first PC built by the community for the community," according to the product website, is based on a mini ITX mainboard from ASRock and provides a dual-core Atom N330, 3GB RAM and a 160GB hard disk. The price is a little over US$500, which includes a pre-installed openSUSE-based Linux system with a KDE desktop, support for phone and email, and a contribution of US$14 to the KDE project.
The Open-PC 1 includes a free PCI slot, PS/2 connectors for mouse and keyboard, and a parallel and serial port. The complete hardware works with a free driver. The product webpage also has detailed photos and documentation for the central components of the system.