This is interesting, I guess. But I would prefer the adruino boy

TI is taking a loss on every TI Launchpad sold, which is why they're so damn cheap.  And that means there's no room for Launchpad clones on the market.  Which in turn means that TI is going to have a lock on supply -- and they're ALREADY having trouble filling orders.  Hacker-oriented hardware doesn't tolerate stuck markets very well.

You can find Arduino clones for $15 these days.  I would think that this difference of ~$10 spent on the core of your project would be justified given the huge open source community around the Arduino platform.  (Here's an arduino clone on a breadboard for $10.)

Actually it does come assembled I think.  Free shipping too.  I might just order one to give learning programming a go.

plus it doesnt come assembled.. right? More tools are always better though.

Yeah that's a bummer, but I bet it'll come around sooner or later.  Sure it's not as versatile as the arduino but the price is really the driving point.

So, is it an MCU driving it, or an actual CPU? I feel more comfortable with the latter, but hey. Guess I'll actually have to click the link. :)

EDIT: I looks cheap, yes. But you get what you pay for. No Linux or open source support. :(

New device similar to the Arduino.  Super SUPER cheap.  Looks cool!

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php … XP430G2%29