user6834: I came across a dev board around the Atmel Xmega controller. This an AVR like used on Arduino, but with a lot of extras. 

I was surprised to see that the board is hardly more expensive than an Arduino, despite:


384kB of Flash (versus 32kB for Arduino)  
DMA  
Xmega can run at 32 MHz (16 MHz for Arduino)
on-board OLED display  
on-board light and temperature sensors  
on-board microSD socket


For all these on-board features you'd need a shield or breakout board for Arduino. I seems to me that for a lower price than Arduino you could build a much more powerful system, which is Arduino-compatible.
How hard would it be to port Arduino to the Xmega?
see also http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-71436

user7182: There's an attempt to get the Atmel XMEGA boards working in Arduino IDE.
https://github.com/akafugu/Xmegaduino
It's not fully featured yet but appears to have to features to allow you to start hacking with this board.

6834: <p>I came across a dev board around the Atmel Xmega controller. This an AVR like used on Arduino, but with a lot of extras. </p>

<p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/UCSG3.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>

<p>I was surprised to see that the board is hardly more expensive than an Arduino, despite:</p>

<blockquote>
  <ul>
  <li>384kB of Flash (versus 32kB for Arduino)  </li>
  <li>DMA  </li>
  <li>Xmega can run at 32 MHz (16 MHz for Arduino)</li>
  <li>on-board OLED display  </li>
  <li>on-board light and temperature sensors  </li>
  <li>on-board microSD socket</li>
  </ul>
</blockquote>

<p>For all these on-board features you'd need a shield or breakout board for Arduino. I seems to me that for a lower price than Arduino you could build a much more powerful system, which is Arduino-compatible.<br>
How hard would it be to port Arduino to the Xmega?</p>

<p>see also <a href="http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-71436" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-71436</a></p>
 7182: <p>There's an attempt to get the Atmel XMEGA boards working in Arduino IDE.</p>

<p><a href="https://github.com/akafugu/Xmegaduino" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/akafugu/Xmegaduino</a></p>

<p>It's not fully featured yet but appears to have to features to allow you to start hacking with this board.</p>
