These questions are best answered by answering the unsaid question first: "What is the Linux PC Robot?" It is a hobby robot platform that you can build without a lot of specialized components, with few (if any) specialized programing languages, and that has the ability to do real mobile robotics work, for under $500.

For more than a few years, it held its own. I would have put it against almost any platform as far more usable. I'm not sure about it anymore. New robotic kits with higher degrees of integration and community development make tasks that are fairly challenging on the LPCR almost trivial.

About the only advantage the "Linux PC Robot" has is size and payload. It can navigate over uneven flooring, rugs, and so on. It can carry things. After that, the Arduino and Raspberry PI are taking off so quickly. I mean, when I first built it, I used an VIA EPIA 800MHZ C3 motherboard. A single Raspberry PI can handle what that old motherboard did. The Intel motherboard was a cool idea and allowed me to expand and do some more, but I think the design has played out.

This is a hobby, I have no real goals except to (1) experiment when I have an idea and (2) share things that may help other experimenters. That's about it. The mounting of desktop/server Linux hardware on wheels is no longer interesting and I don't believe necessary.

In reference to my previous post, moving forward. The future is multiprocessing. Smaller dedicated smart devices working as functional building blocks. This is how I've always envisioned the design, and now I have cheap hardware with which to do it.

I still think size matters. You need some mass and wheel diameter to navigate the real world.