Linux is such a wonderful kernel for many reasons, but I find its adaptability to be the tops. You can get an operating system based on the kernel running on such a broad range of hardware -- something Microsoft can only dream about with its venerable Windows.

Even though Linux can run on damn-near anything, it is beneficial for developers to have a reference platform to use for creating. Of course, they can always expand from that jumping point. Today, Canonical announces that the Dragonboard 410c hardware will be the reference platform for Ubuntu Core on ARM 64-bit.

"This will be the very first ARM-based 64-bit development board and SoC available for Ubuntu Core, offering makers and Internet of Things (IoT) innovators an affordable, powerful yet flexible development environment, which can scale from ARM-based servers to embedded solutions. This offering builds on the DragonBoard 410c positioning as a standardised development board for the ARM ecosystem under the umbrella of Linaro’s open source 96Boards program", says Canonical.

The company further says, "the Dragonboard 410c is the size of a credit card; originally designed to galvanise and inspire IoT developers and innovators by providing a high performance, affordable platform to form the basis of a host of scalable IoT solutions. This 'democratisation' of the business of IoT is designed to breathe life into great 'things' ideas that otherwise, without the proper funding, or access to technology, may never come to fruition. The 'c' in 410c stands for 'community' -- giving developers the tools to work on prototypes without the cost, and provide a smooth path to commercialization through production ready off-the-shelf or custom system-on-modules based on the Snapdragon 410 processor".

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This developer board features the quad-core Snapdragon 410 ARM processor, clocked at 1.2 Ghz and 1GB of LPDDR3 RAM. It also has 8GB eMMC for storage and 4 USB ports. Owners can utilize microSD cards for expanding storage and the HDMI interface for connecting to a display.

In addition to the upcoming (date to be determined) Ubuntu Core OS image, the Dragonboard 410c is also compatible with Android 5.1 and Windows 10 IoT, making this a very smart buy at only $75. If you want to buy this board in anticipation of Canonical's release, you can get it here.

Will you buy it? Tell me in the comments.