I have followed the Pandora's cycle, wanted to have one, no money... Then the Pandora got followed by the Pyra, wanted to have one, no money... Now years later, I got money, so I bought a Pyra. Even added some vouchers so I will not have to pay the rest later. Better safe, than sorry afterwards. (And it helps ED a little, with some much needed cash to get the parts paid for the first batch.)
But why would I have the Pyra over any other, cheaper tablet/laptop/minilaptop with maybe better specs? Because the Pyra is so open I can truely make it "mine". I never have needed the top-of-the-line, superexpensive, lightningfast uebercomputer to play the latest of the latest games.
The Pyra is beefy enough to do what I want it to, while it's an open development platform with an open source OS that I can tweak, extend and possibly break a hundred times, without much of anything happening and I can put it in my purse.
What do you mean flimsy attempts? You can just use any hardware on Android connecting it directly either through USB otg or bluetooth. That includes keyboards, mice or controllers. Even multiple controllers if you want. This isn't 2012 anymore.
Makes me wonder, acid, if you've ever tried to use a USB CD/DVD player with Android, cause I would love to know how you did it. I kinda doubt Android can even do it. I tried, but the device isn't showing up anywhere.