MinnowBoard: First open-source PC with x86 processor

Minnowboard

Intel’s first ‘open-source PC’ on sale for $199

The PC, called the MinnowBoard, is basically a motherboard with no casing around it. It was codeveloped by Intel and CircuitCo Electronics, a company that specializes in open-source motherboards, and went on sale this month for US$199 from a handful of retailers.

It’s the first open-source PC to be offered with an Intel x86 processor, and the board’s schematics and design files are published and can be replicated under a Creative Commons license. Development kits based on x86 processors from Via Technologies are already sold for robotics and other projects, but those boards are not open source.


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1 Comment

  1. What’s the point? $199 can’t be serious, right? They’re going up against sub-$50 embedded platforms like Raspberry and BeagleBone with a $200 x86 board. Don’t forget you can get a Mini-ITX system for well under $100 these days.

    It’s great this is open so– oh, wait, Creative Commons license. I just don’t get it.

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