I’ve got a Bambu A1 mini that I’m quite happy with. Bambu studio works perfectly fine on Linux, and I can import lots of different kinds of designs from anywhere, but I think you do really need Bambu Studio to prepare the print for this specific printer. I have no idea if there’s any way around that, but is that necessary?
The a1 mini is very good at small details. The main downside is of course that it’s not very big, so not suitable for large prints. It calibrates automatically and is very low maintenance.
That’s indeed a bad development I wasn’t aware of. Even more so if they base their own software on others, and then block others from their platform.