Now the first devices had shipped to some of the project's supporters.

Of course, you are going to need a few add-ons to get it working. Monitor, peripherals but it is still not bad for $9.

You get a 1 GHz R8 ARM processor, 4 GB of internal solid-state storage, 512 MB of RAM memory, Integrated Wi-Fi, Audio input and output, Bluetooth a USB port and Video output

The Chip PC is an open hardware device, which will make it that much more attractive to Linux and open source fans, particularly those who see Richard Stallman as a messiah.

It should prove great for the Linux hobbyist crowd who now have something other than the Raspberry Pi in which to create their homemade water-bombs as part of their cunning plan to bring about a revolution of Linux to the desktop.

Chip PC developers have ambitious commercial goals in mind, too. They are already soliciting resellers and partners through their website.

They are touting its cost savings and "unparalleled" security features and low power consumption. You'll have to wait to buy it until early next year, when the Chip PC is scheduled to become generally available.

A new $9 thin-client, ARM-based Chip PC has just hit the shops.