A posting for the Technology Producers Group. Semi-Conductors, incase you did know this. *How do I create a prototype* - Prototyping is much easier now than the 80s or 90s and can be very expensive. You can choose Intel, AD or Texas Instruments. There are also a number of semiconductor manufacturers in the Far East but here you must know what you are doing and which semiconductor to use. Anyway, say for example you are an Open Source expert and are looking at creating the prototype say for the NTM/IDS devices. Most of the time, embedded devices will work but you don't need a full-fledged computer hardware type system. To run an embedded version of your workable OS, you already have a full semi-conductor chipset that you can build on. - Watch the video from Texas Instruments on the ARM processors and how much they have done for Open Source Technology Producers to not only get started quickly but also build within their tools. http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/dsp/arm.page?DCMP=TIHomeTracking&HQS=Other+OT+home... . Watch the video on the page link. There is a lot of information that can help you build complete systems. - Remember that many semi-conductor manufacturers have a batch order of a 1000pcs or also known as 1K. This is very important, as Texas Instruments allows you to purchase single processors for prototyping. Others do not offer such. - They also have excellent evaluation kits that make you prototype development much easier. - Depending on what you need to create, you may have to shop around other places because prototyping costs can easily shoot up and also get complex. When buying just the semi-conductors from different manufacturers can place serious delays in design work. - Forget about buying micro-motherboards/ram/cpu etc as they will increase your input costs when you want to build embedded systems. Go the semiconductor route.