You can always try to use QEMU for OS development when a dev board is not available. The latest version implements Release 6 for 32- and 64-bit MIPS CPUs.

When it comes to development boards, we are working to expand the Creator family to include more options at the high- and low-end.

For those asking if MIPS is dead, my sincere answer is a loud no. We've had a record quarter in shipments, registered over 800m devices last year using the architecture (which represents a 10% increase YoY, by the way).

Regards, Alex.