Awesome Little Computers Running Linux

There are a lot of small, low power, and cheap computers that are coming out these days.  The first one that left an impression on me was the Raspberry Pi which came out in February 2012.  This was a computer about the size of a credit card and ran using only 1.5W if you had the model A and 3.5W if you had the model B.  I was thinking of using one of these as a personal web server because they use so little power, but you had to buy several accessories to get the thing to work such as an SD card, video cable, power cable (I heard it was picky about how much power it got), wifi adapter, ect.   Kits that came with what you needed ran around $100.

Fast forward to today and you will find many more awesome little computers running Linux.  The cheapest and most exciting one in my opinion is the C.H.I.P.  Its the world's first $9 computer.  Unlike the Raspberry Pi you get a complete package with the exception of it including a power cable.  The CHIP comes with a composite video cable and has built in wifi, built in storage, and even built in Bluetooth 4.0  There is a Kickstarter going on right now for the CHIP which has 9 days to go and is approaching 2 million dollars in funding.  I ordered early so I should be getting mine in December of this year.  But you can still get one by February 2016.  The 1Ghz CHIP is faster than the original 700Mhz Raspberry Pi but there is a Raspberry Pi 2 which has a 900Mhz quad-core.  There are also the BeagleBoards which run from $49 to $149.  

All the computers I have mentioned so far run ARM processors but there is another awesome little computer that runs Linux and it uses a chip with a bit more power.  The MintBox Mini is a small computer that is more capable than the rest.  It does run $295 but it comes with the much loved Mint Linux, an AMD A4 Micro-6400T (Quad core 1.0-1.6 GHz + Radeon R3), 4 GB DDR3 RAM, and a 64GB mSATA drive.  Plus it comes with all the plugs you'd expect on a desktop PC and yes, even wifi.  So take your pick at a quick little Linux PC.