I've been through this a few times as well - I built some Zigbee based devices a couple of years back.
You don't always need to fabricate your own boards - particularly for first runs. Sometimes you can get away with the dev board, sometimes you can get away with OEM boards (e.g. if you develop for PIC microcontroller, there are loads and loads of different prebuilt modules you can lift and drop).
The case of regulatory certifications is an interesting one - they do have consideration for a "module radio", which means you can got through a much cheaper, quicker certification process (it's still a pain). It's been about 3-4 years since I looked into it, so there might be other options now.
When you're selecting a dev board make sure it's accessible to you. If at all possible, go for something with a good cross-compiler and an emulator.
The fact that you want Linux - Well depends on the power you need, but you could use anything from a standard Intel through to a Blackfin. I hear the Motorola/Freescale toolchain is good too - although I've never used it personally. Anyone on here have much experience with embedded Linux?
I've been through this a few times as well - I built some Zigbee based devices a couple of years back.
You don't always need to fabricate your own boards - particularly for first runs. Sometimes you can get away with the dev board, sometimes you can get away with OEM boards (e.g. if you develop for PIC microcontroller, there are loads and loads of different prebuilt modules you can lift and drop).
The case of regulatory certifications is an interesting one - they do have consideration for a "module radio", which means you can got through a much cheaper, quicker certification process (it's still a pain). It's been about 3-4 years since I looked into it, so there might be other options now.
When you're selecting a dev board make sure it's accessible to you. If at all possible, go for something with a good cross-compiler and an emulator.
The fact that you want Linux - Well depends on the power you need, but you could use anything from a standard Intel through to a Blackfin. I hear the Motorola/Freescale toolchain is good too - although I've never used it personally. Anyone on here have much experience with embedded Linux?