Well, I did it. Took the plunge and ordered one of those little Raspberry Pi credit card sized Linux computer boards. I've wanted a good reason to learn Linux but I didn't want to set up a dual boot partition on my main Windows computer or the laptop so this little board will fill the bill nicely. It even has HDMI video out and I ordered an HDMI to VGA adapter so I can hook it to a decent extra flat screen monitor I happen to have laying around here. I've heard that quite a few of the ham radio apps that have been compiled for Linux will run on it, and FLDIGI for certain, so it looks to become a really nice field companion for my Elecraft KX3.
If anyone on here has one of these, I'd appreciate any help available to get started with it. I should receive it probably early next week. These things are so popular that most places can't seem to be able to keep 'em in stock but I lucked out and found that MCM Electronics had some left. I've dealt with them before and always had good luck with their customer service so I ordered the board from them. The rest of the stuff I'm getting from www.adafruit.com who was out of the computers but had the accessories I wanted in stock. I'll probably order one of the add on "real world" controller/breadboard cards to enable all sorts of neat external device control possibilities.