I have a Rock64 and I don't remember it being that difficult to setup. Maybe I was just using it as a headless machine, but to get a working Linux install shouldn't have been this hard.
I typically use Arch Linux because it's very barebones, and Arch Linux ARM has a working setup [0] for the Rock64. You do need to write various parts like U-Boot bootloader onto the SD card manually, but everything has been pre-compiled. If you prefer an image that you can directly flash onto an SD card like Raspbian, then maybe you can try Armbian [1].
These should get you a working Linux install rather quickly, bringing you to up to the "sixth circle" as written by the author.
[0] https://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv8/rockchip/rock64#ins...