When I say that the iPhone is VERY powerful, I am meaning that device has and is utilizing a GPU and CPU which is more powerful than any other mass marketed embedded device out there. I have had quite a bit of success with XPe. I can get it to bootup in less than 5 seconds from complete off… I pick and choose the shell and components needed for my image — it’s pretty much like building your own Linux system.

As of iPhone, it runs one of the ARM derivatives, not VERY powerful though. And runs a highly stripped version of OSX. Basically, it is similar to running WinCE on an ARM, rather than WinXPe on x86. Honestly, x86 sucks as an embedded architecture. Atom comes little bit close, but still not there yet. Performance per watt of power consumption per dollar of price…

The only benefit you’d get from going WinXPe on x86 way is to be able to natively develop on a Windows desktop (if you are a Windows developer) and don’t worry about cross-compilation and learning another OS, which is a big thing for a one-man company like yours.

That is not 100% true. You don’t need Pentium4-class CPU 2GHZ+ with Windows XP Embedded. Show me a home automation application that has “rich graphics and visual effects”. Most devices/applications lack the details… the only one I have seen thus far is the iPhone and that has a VERY powerful CPU/GPU and is running a full OS, OSX.

And the reason why I went with XPe is because you don’t need another build to have it run on desktops. I’m a small company and don’t have a full staff of engineers and investors to fund development on every platform. Plus, the space is so small that no company could afford to do business like that. My touchscreen can run Linux or XPe just fine… I chose XPe because there was no benefit to go Linux.

By the time you can run .NET apps to simply control your lights, you need a Pentium4-class CPU at 2GHz+, 1GB of RAM and so on.

On the other hand, touchscreen devices like Nokia tablets (770, N8×0) or similar work fine on ARM-based CPUs at 300-400MHz, 128MB of RAM and can run Python-based apps w/o any issues. Enough to do touchscreen-based lighting controls with rich graphics and visual effects…

- Josh