Open-PC Is A Completely Open-Source Nettop PC

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Do you want to enjoy the pleasures of a small, low-power consumption nettop but don’t want to use the evil Microsoft Windows? Perhaps you even have issue with buying an ASUS nettop since it would have Windows pre-installed and Redmond would still be getting a share of money from it? In that case, openDesktop.org has something for you, the Open-PC built with all open source software and open spec hardware.

The team behind open-PC bills their nettop as “the first PC built by the community for the community.” Thankfully, it isn’t as bad as some community-designed products we’ve seen. It will come with a KDE/Linux operating system pre-installed and configured to work with the machine.

All of the software installed is 100% free, and it only uses free drivers for the hardware. On the hardware side, the openDesktop team only used parts with “complete technical specifications, as provided by the manufacturers”, were used.  It isn’t a super small and thin nettop that we’ve seen from ASUS or some others, but it does use a micro-ITX case which should be small enough for most consumers. Overall, the case doesn’t look that bad.

As for the specs, it’s running an Intel Atom N330 processor (clocked at 1.6GHz), featuring 3GB of RAM and a 160GB HDD. Graphics are being provided by the processor and everything is running on an ASRock motherboard.

They’re asking €359 for the Open-PC, which includes a €10 donation to the KDE project to make you feel good inside. The Open-PC will start shipping at “the end of February 2010″.