by the native OS i mean the DROPS OS (with DOpE on top). i think this would be great. offer mint next to that for backwards compatibility and the OS side is done.
i don't agree with your opinion about DOpE. it's still in the early stages, i agree. but seen as an alternative to GEM (AES) programming: DOpE is a must.. it's not just 3D look that is the problem but all borders around dialogs. putting dialogs in windows (a must for multitasking) is also a pain.. and every GEM programmer invents this wheel again and again. this makes GEM programming a pain in the back side and generally people accept it's more difficult to tame then windows or linux gui's.
yeah, sure you could just fire up a Linux distribution on this machine with KDE/Gnome or such.. you'd have a nice slow linux box, without anything special to it. DOpE is special.. i don't want to sound too dramatic, but i see parallels to the developments at Xerox labs in the late 70's.. most people believed OO programming, LANs or GUI's would be of much use... it's the same with DOpE/DROPS. there are alot of criticists of real-time functionality in normal operating systems (yes, even Linus himself!), the same goes for not seeing the use of DOpE's flexibility. but i'm sure at least some of these features will become available to the mainstream and make computers better and easier to use somewhere in the future. to have this on a machine made by the scene for the scene is a great dream.
it seems you want a system that is more or less a linux pc but with a coldfire as CPU. only for embedded systems do i see the use. and basically, low power embedded/industrial PC's are already available.
try:
http://www.ampltd.com/prod/t786.html
so i don't entirely see your point..
what would make the ACP special are the special custom chips, the radically new OS and in some ways the similarities to ataris. i don't see it having a future as a low-power linux clone, and i certainly don't see it competing with these PC/104 systems.
when the ACP is completed and the first apps for it are written then it's likely it will appeal to users of alternative computers, first. the ACP designers have strong connections to these people and rely on them.
when the ACP proves itself (by hard work from these sceners) and things run straight out-of-the-box and maybe the first 'killer' apps appear it might be an interesting option for the multimedia industry too.
