That a distro's principal maintainer steps down is unfortunate for anyone who is downstream from them, but it is not the end of the world. As the article mentions, other distros for Rockchip continue to exist.
> the official Linux kernel is more based on SoC vendor's BSP (Board Support Package) that can utilise full SoC features. And Hardkernel is able to consult with Rockchip in case we found missing SoC features only when the issue is discovered in their BSP, otherwise it's very hard. Therefore, we are managing the Linux kernel with most similar OS with the version from Rockchip, even Ubuntu 20.04 is not from Rockchip.
> The images with upstream kernel would not be stable enough and features are not fully supported, so please do not use this image for your important project or to store important data.
Since late 2023, ODROID-M1 is supported by mainline u-boot (odroid-m1-rk3568 target) and you can also use a mainline kernel (6.4 or later) which provides working USB 3.0.
That a distro's principal maintainer steps down is unfortunate for anyone who is downstream from them, but it is not the end of the world. As the article mentions, other distros for Rockchip continue to exist.