Linux is more rotund than robust, if you get my drift. And I completely sympathize on the complexities of what are ostensibly hobbyist systems - I'm exceedingly frustrated by how long the Raspberry Pi foundation is taking to get the rest of the hardware documentation out (I know, I know, it wasn't initially intended for the tinkerer market, but the hobbyists were a huge part of the initial funding, and it'd be nice if there was a little more respect for that.) I haven't taken an in-depth look at the PandaBoard or BeagleBoard systems and the extent to which they're documented, but they might be good options. Then again, they also cost $100+ per unit.