I actually ended up purchasing this unit and getting it running with the instructions from [0] mentioned elsewhere. RAM and everything else seems to be almost identical to the dongles. (4 core A53 CPU running just shy of 1Ghz, 512 MB RAM, 4GB flash storage).
The only couple issues I had getting a plain old Linux on it from the instructions was that it didn't like the image buddy prepared custom for his tutorial in [0]. The solution was to follow the source links in the article, and flash it with a "generic" image from the person I believe originally got Linux working on these types of devices. I can't overstate how good these instructions and discussions in the comments are. The other thing was the modem didn't work, but all that required was copying the files from the original modem partition on the device to /lib/firmware of the new Linux installation. Super straight forward.
Sadly the screen, while it did function with the stock firmware, doesn't work out of the box with the Linux I flashed to it. Digging around, I think I've determined it's a DSI display, with maybe some evidence of Linux showing its there, but the kernel I have wasn't compiled with any support to run it. I'm not knowledgeable at all in this space though so there's that.
It's a great device, all the same benefits of the dongles, but with a battery to boot. If only I knew how to get that screen to work.
The only couple issues I had getting a plain old Linux on it from the instructions was that it didn't like the image buddy prepared custom for his tutorial in [0]. The solution was to follow the source links in the article, and flash it with a "generic" image from the person I believe originally got Linux working on these types of devices. I can't overstate how good these instructions and discussions in the comments are. The other thing was the modem didn't work, but all that required was copying the files from the original modem partition on the device to /lib/firmware of the new Linux installation. Super straight forward.
Sadly the screen, while it did function with the stock firmware, doesn't work out of the box with the Linux I flashed to it. Digging around, I think I've determined it's a DSI display, with maybe some evidence of Linux showing its there, but the kernel I have wasn't compiled with any support to run it. I'm not knowledgeable at all in this space though so there's that.
It's a great device, all the same benefits of the dongles, but with a battery to boot. If only I knew how to get that screen to work.
[0] https://wvthoog.nl/openstick/