They promised Linux support. Never came. Only the newer models, significantly more expensive, have it. Sorry I'm no help there. Suffice to say they're not very knowledgeable about Linux so may not even understand the question about flatopack.
Looks like they have ONLY sold by Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Interesting business model.
- Announce a new model, show a prototype and make some impressive YouTube videos of it
- Fund actual development and production from the campaign "contributions" (pre-orders, really)
- Take about 9 months from campaign close to all units shipped
- Go to step 1
In my case they shipped in batches, first ordered first served. Took about two months to ship everything that was pre-ordered once they received the completed units themselves.
Pretty sure they're in HongKong but the units are made on the mainland.
I imagine that after four years and multiple product cycles since I got mine they have their manufacturing and shipping acts together better now. Plus, I bought in the middle of Chinese COViD lockdowns and I imagine their supply chain was ... affected.
The ET MAX has an estimated shipping date of April; good luck with that. I don't think they've ever made a shipping target.
I haven't used the Shine Ultra as much as I'd planned. But the Windows OCR software did work well, and they have provided free software updates for more than three years after delivery; more than I expected.
- Evan