OpenPOWER[1] would be a great option. There was a recent crowd-funding effort to try to make an OpenPOWER desktop a reality[2] but unfortunately it didn't get nearly enough funding (though apparently they are still developing it[3]).
That would have been a cool machine, but unfortunately, the price was way outside my budget.
If such a machine with reasonable specs (I do not expect a 64-core 256-GB-RAM-monster) could be brought down to the 1000 $/€ price range, I would seriously look into it.
(I am not sure how realistic that price range is, though.)
What about Loongson? IIRC, Richard Stallmann uses a Notebook based on it, because it has free firmware. Performance is probably not breathtaking, but it exists. Does somebody know if there are Desktop machines built around that chip?
I have to agree. The Talon looked amazing, but the crowdfunding price was way out there.
They should have offered a bare version with just the board, ram and maybe video card (to ensure comparability). They needed the ~$1k USD hobbyist market.
It seems like the goals were way too high, like the Ubuntu Edge.
[1]: https://openpowerfoundation.org/ [2]: https://www.crowdsupply.com/raptor-computing-systems/talos-s... [3]: https://www.raptorengineering.com/TALOS/prerelease.php