dr_jekell
The hardware isn't so much of a problem as there are companies who can make or source compatible tablets like the PineTab2 and the PineNote.
It's making the software compatible with a lower power mobile device and learning what needs to fixed.
It would have been much easier to deal with getting a tablet up and running before dealing with getting a mobile device functional.
Making the small steps from laptop to tablet then to phone would have saved them a lot of grief and software mistakes.
They really shot themselves in the foot by going straight to phones.
The better way would have been to work on tablets first and working out all the bugs on larger devices with a limited feature set before moving into phones with the attendant issues of regional cell bands and restrictions.
Rather than play the "will this product work on Linux" game I bought an enclosure and made my own. I got an Orico enclosure and put a large HDD into it.
Most enclosures are OS agnostic (but check anyway) and you can put quite large drives in them.
I wouldn't consider it a backup solution, I use Timeshift for that.
It's more of a file syncing software like Syncthing.
I have it set up to one way sync certain folders on my computer to an external USB HDD that I can disconnect and take with me if I have to evacuate.
Have you had a look at "Lucky Backup"?
Logitech does not support Linux.
Most of the current compatibility of Logitech devices comes from, Linux devs reverse engineering their software, USB standards or from default programing stored in the device.
Have you considered that they may have used a 32bit UEFI bios combined with 64bit processor?
Try a distro that supports 32bit UEFI.
About 25 years for me.
For most people it's a better option to use a local print shop for the odd times that they need something printed.
More options for printing too.
Have you tried running the laptop down until it shuts off then charging it?
Install RockBox onto it and continue using it as a music player.
Edit: apparently this is a device that can't use RockBox.
It's not so much both computers being able to access it.
From what I have experienced Timeshift tends to lock a drive when it is doing a backup.
If computer 1 is doing a backup and computer 2 tries to start it's backup it may fail without you noticing.
Giving each computer their own partition on the drive should alleviate the problem.