The BeagleBoard was a $150 board the Pandaboard $180, the "Chumby" was hackable at around $150 but not HD video.
The price was important. It is below the 'impulse' buy price for gainfully employed engineers. Most embedded systems are $200+ have complex setups, usually a costly IDE setup. They presented a pretty step learning curve, and even though valuable the challenge is the cost risk.
If you see a mousetrap that costs 1/10th your current mousetrap many folks are inclined to at least try it :-)
Hmm...I guess my memory isn't so keen. Maybe I was thinking of another system. It was called 'cherry' something but it was under but closer to $100. But I see your point.
Incidentally that 1/10th cost is one of the reasons I want to get into designing hardware so if you have pointers on that, it'd be helpful. :)
The price was important. It is below the 'impulse' buy price for gainfully employed engineers. Most embedded systems are $200+ have complex setups, usually a costly IDE setup. They presented a pretty step learning curve, and even though valuable the challenge is the cost risk.
If you see a mousetrap that costs 1/10th your current mousetrap many folks are inclined to at least try it :-)