Building an Opensource Desktop (silent, low budget <200?)

[libXq]

Hey Guys,

I am trying to build an PC, which should be open-source as much as possible. As planned the system should provide enough power for tasks like web browsing,streaming (1080p) and word processing. As there is no need for advance tasks like gaming or rendering it might remains completely silent, therefore a passive cooling seems to be well advised. The energy consumption should be as low as possible. (an arm cpu would be perfect)


This concept is driven by the idea most arm based singleboardcomputers like the rpi has these days. But the rpi 2 still not have enough power to fullfill my needs.

So do you guys know any alternatives.....

Maybe a itx intel system is the only choice i can take???

[chithanh]

How much exactly should be open source? The operating system, the graphics drivers, the BIOS/firmware?
To my knowledge there are only a handful of devices that qualify as truly running on open source software if you include the firmware.

ASUS Chromebox would come close, it has coreboot firmware and reportedly produces only minimal noise.
Building the computer yourself will restrict your choice to mostly one AM1 mobo (Biostar AM1ML) or obsolete boards or hard to obtain development platforms.