If you are looking for a fun little hardware platform to play around with, I recommend taking a look at the Nail, one of the very excellent TinCan tools. I'm probably going to get one of these gadgets to run my upcoming Halloween spooky spectacular! The whole project is maintained by my good buddy Dave Anders (prpplague on IRC), so it comes with the CosmicPenguin "seal" of approval (get it? Penguin, seal? Its funny because they are Antarctic).