Recent mini-PC/router devices of interest
RockTek RT-A1, priced at $65 on NewEgg Flash on 1/5/15. Quad core, HDMI output up to 2048 x 1536. Appears to be only a 10/100 ethernet, but has a couple of USBs to which GigE adapters could be connected for up to 480Mbit theoretical throughput. Also has a composite video out, which could theoretically be paired with one of these 4.3″ LCD “backup camera” displays for a convenient method to apply updates, etc. Caveat is that there does not seem to be much hackery on it to run Linux natively, but it is tempting to pick one or two up to play with and see what could be done.
Also ran across this Foxconn AT-5570 (manufacturer page here, also on sale at NewEgg Flash for $90, though it would need to have RAM and storage added). Higher price and lower performance would make this somewhat less appealing.
The Foxconn was perhaps most interesting because it led me to the Jetway motherboards with multiport ethernet daughterboards. This auction page had a six port GigE model. The four port daughterboard is the Jetway ADE4RTLANG, and several of the Jetway mini-ITX mainboards include dual ethernet ports natively. Quite a bit higher priced, but might prove useful at some time.
Also interesting was the Odroid-C1 currently selling at the same price as the RPi, and their intro/getting started kit with the required SD card as well as a breakout board and some basic electronic components to get familiar with the device is on sale for under $70 through January 7th when paying with PayPal. The C1 is, I believe, almost pin-compliant with the header on the RPi. It has a quad core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB DDR3, and a gigabit ethernet interface.
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