If I was looking for a digital pedalboard device I'd want something that was extremely rugged, never had software issues or forced me to download updates, and booted up within about 10-15 seconds (that's how long the digital pedals on my actual pedalboard take to boot). It also needs a case with, at the very least, a couple of patch change switches and an on/off switch; but preferably a lot more.
The ruggedness and built-in controls are really important. I used to gig with a standard laptop + audio interface + multiple MIDI controllers. The external gear was a real hassle to set up, even with everything labelled with bright coloured tape so I could just match colour to colour while plugging it in. And eventually the laptop got knocked over and fell a couple of feet onto a wooden stage - and even that minor impact smashed the screen, which was glued in so I couldn't replace it. I also have a horror story about a machine rebooting to apply Windows updates in the middle of a gig and requiring the rest of the band to improvise until I was done! I don't really gig any more, but if I took it up again, I would switch to using as much hardware as I could.
But I really don't care about actual analog devices. I already have a decent few DSP-powered pedals on my pedalboard and I cannot tell the difference, other than the true analog ones are more noisy!
There is the MOD Dwarf, a Linux based pedal that is much as you describe. It has a pedal style case with three foot buttons, a few encoders and buttons and screen for changing parameters on the fly, but to fully configure it you use a laptop or tablet to connect to it and set up a patch.
The ruggedness and built-in controls are really important. I used to gig with a standard laptop + audio interface + multiple MIDI controllers. The external gear was a real hassle to set up, even with everything labelled with bright coloured tape so I could just match colour to colour while plugging it in. And eventually the laptop got knocked over and fell a couple of feet onto a wooden stage - and even that minor impact smashed the screen, which was glued in so I couldn't replace it. I also have a horror story about a machine rebooting to apply Windows updates in the middle of a gig and requiring the rest of the band to improvise until I was done! I don't really gig any more, but if I took it up again, I would switch to using as much hardware as I could.
But I really don't care about actual analog devices. I already have a decent few DSP-powered pedals on my pedalboard and I cannot tell the difference, other than the true analog ones are more noisy!