I've got the following hardware requirement:
2 x RS232 port Bluetooth (to talk to a mobile phone) Ethernet (speed irrelevant) USB (Controller) A small qwerty keyboard A small text LCD
640x480 Video output NTSC video output No particular processor power is required Low power dissipation Needs to fit into a box approx (mm) 100 x 50 x 150
I've designed loads of embedded hardware over the years but this project will involve some internet stuff, and the bluet**th ;) so we will be looking to make use of existing support and something like Linux would be essential.
It would be nice to have something on which bluetooth actually works ;)
There seems to be a wide choice of hardware out there. The Gumstix line is interesting but there appears to be no support contact details; just a developer mailing list.
The video output requirement is a bit weird... we actually just need to drive the text LCD, and currently I am doing a part of this using a standard windoze XP machine with an 800x600 VGA output (DB15) driving a cheap ex-Ebay VGA to NTSC converter. The converter is not a great issue but is a significant size PCB and draws about 500mA at 9V.