Open source developers need hardware to test the offering on and Linaro and Samsung have partnered to deliver a high-end solution to developer needs. The new device is called the Origen development board and the coolest thing about the little board is that it uses the same powerful Samsung Exynos 4210 chipset that you find inside the Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone. That chipset has a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor.

Other than that speedy Samsung chipset, the Origen board also has 1GB of DDR3 RAM and a Mali400 GPU. The board is aimed at developers looking to make tablets, smartphone, and other connected screens that want high quality graphics and performance. Linaro will provide Linaro Evaluation Builds of Android and Ubuntu from its website to use with the hardware. Perhaps the coolest thing about the Origen board is that it will sell to devs for under $200.

The board also integrates mobile oriented feature is not the board like interfaces for HDMI, SD cards, WiFi, Bluetooth, Stereo audio, LCD, JTAG debug, and cameras. The Exynos processor is mounted on a small daughter board with the DDR3 RAM to enable future upgrades. “The Origen board and Linaro’s provision of software and tools makes it easier, faster and less expensive for developers and companies to develop high-end embedded Linux products,” said George Grey, CEO Linaro. “Origen provides outstanding performance for tablets, smartphones and a wide range of embedded Linux products, and we are excited to be offering optimized open source components and builds of Android and Ubuntu for this development platform.”

[via Linaro]