build a hack box of choice?

With all the talk about which new box might be hackable, it seems 
obvious that there is a need for something cheap but with the 
capabilities of the expensive Soekris boards.

I work as a software engineer (IT department doing mostly Java and web 
stuff) of an ASIC company.  I know very little about hardware, but I 
work with friends that know hardware and know the industry and the OEM 
players.

My question is...  what needs to be in a box to not just make it 
hackable, but be made to hack and put Linux on it?  Also, is there 
current hardware (WRT54?) that may have an OEM much like all the vendors 
that used the WL11000 based boards? 

I'm wondering if a rough business model of catering to the Linux-hack 
market would work.  Of course I am counting all the applications of the 
hacked boxes, otherwise the quantity probably wouldn't be enough.

Thanks,
-Scott