Embedded system
Sometimes it may be easier to use a circuit board that is already made.  These usually share many components with general purpose computers, but are smaller than one in a general purpose computer. Boards such as the VIA EPIA can run Microsoft Windows. The advantage is that it saves some electrical engineering time and can use the same software development tools used for PC-type software development. Examples of such embedded devices are the ATMs or displays in casinos.  This works well if the real-time requirements are not real strict (it doesn't matter much if a job takes eight seconds instead of five, for example).