Just saw this today on Ars Technica...
Too bad they didn't see the BeagleBoard fit to their purposes.
It's an interesting post, but the guys can't be All That if they found
it challenging to interface a pinball machine's 5V i/o to a
Beagleboard or Gumstix. I mean, c'mon!
And I don't buy the shock/vibe justification. True, the Gumstix
_itself_ might be pretty durable, but I think that once you mate it to
those tiny Hirose connectors, you've probably made it a worse solution
than a standalone Beagleboard.
This is more of a "I hacked a pinball game, and oh I made a ton of
money at it because of who I know"-type article than something that
appeals to the techie in me. But then again, it's still good exposure
for Beagleboard so I'm conflicted... 
Instead of creating a boot-time challenge to flush out the real tech-heads, it sounds like we need to have a pinball machine challenge.
(still wishing I made it to Altparty and wondering how do we get a beagle-based pinball machine challenge included for next year)
Hey, I'm already using a Beagleboard (and a Gumstix, AND a Cogent
CSB740--- all OMAP 35xx-based) to control my model trains. All 25 of
them! What more do you want?!
Also, I think I need to retract a bit of my trash-talk regarding the
Gumstix. I read one of their vibration-related documents here:
http://www.gumstix.net/Hardware/cat/Vibration-testing/112.html
And indeed, their qualifications are real. Nice job.
Yet another example of why I should avoid posting critical comments in
a pre-caffeinated state.
b.g.
Yes please!