After succeeding to run a graphical environment of Ubuntu on iMac G3, I felt a deep desire to test Linux on SbC having an ARM processor.
My first SbC was a "Cubietruck" (aka Cubieboard-3) which was released in Autumn 2013. It was on my hands on November 2013. It had an Allwinner A20 cpu (dual-core). The operating systems I tried were Lubuntu, Fedora and Cubian. Later, Ubuntu was also available. "Cubietruck" had some superiorities compared to other SbCs (VGA or HDMI as video output; NAND or micro-SD as boot media; ability to run SATA drive; wi-fi and Bluetooth and infrared availability; digital audio output through optic port). Yes, it's not the most powerful SbC, but as a personal computer for browsing web pages or for multimedia purposes or for office applications, it was found sufficient. Now, the operating system runs on a SATA-HDD (significantly faster than NAND or micro-SD).
In the fifth month of my first SbC experience, I wished to try another SbC, having a more powerful processor. My search resulted in "ODROID-U3". The processor was very powerful compared to "Cubietruck". It was an Exynos 4412 (quad-core at 1.7 GHz). It had inferiorities compared to "Cubietruck" (only HDMI; micro-SD or eMMC as boot media; no SATA support; no wi-fi; no Bluetooth). But it was really an acceptable choice for me who wanted to try it as a replacement for x86-based computers with very low energy consumption and portability. Needless to say that "ODROID-U3" was a very powerful device. I added a wi-fi dongle (to one of the three USB-2.0 ports). Ubuntu was installed and run (now 14.04). It had a great community and also a monthly magazine was available (http://magazine.odroid.com). I have to express that my home computer is this "ODROID-U3" now (using it for adding this post also). I also want to tell that the operating system is running on an USB-HDD (thanks to ODROID magazines).
To see a very low power consumption (running with an adapter 5V DC and 2 A max) while performing everyday computing tasks kept me a little bit away from my old PCs.
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