Is it possible to manually configure the port to work with HDMI or as a host (in sysfs), or is the hardware change required (on preorder/braveheart phone)?
Is there a single place with the most up-to-date kernel sources with usb hardware drivers, audio support for modem, etc.?
I'm aware of three maintained kernel trees specifically for PinePhone:
Samuel's: https://github.com/smaeul/linux Mine: https://github.com/megous/linux/ Pine64: https://gitlab.com/pine64-org/linux/commits/pine64-kernel-5....
I think at the moment all of those are pretty much equivalent feature-wise, except for some mild differences.
It's not possible to workaround (in software) anything that requires CC pins to work properly, that includes setting up display port alternate mode.