Most compatible linux board

Hi,
I'm doing a little helicopter. It's a toy/hobby more or less.
With 5 pounds and many features.

So, I wanto put a whole embedded system to control it, since wifi
connectivity until on-the-fly stablilization.
I need some strong processor/board to control all of it. My question is:
which is the most linux compatible embedded board in the market?

For now, i'm searching something between Atmel and  Texas Ins.
I have technology enough for build my own board if necessary.

So, give me your experiences with your embedded. This little project will
be open source/hardware.

Thanks a lot.

-- 
Willian Paixão
Computer Engineer
http://www.laps.ufpa.br/willian