Bootstrapping SoCs gets really tricky when you don't have a JTAG device. The newer chips that let you boot directly from SD have been a great leap forward in development speed.
So wish I could upvote you multiple times. People these days are spoiled with their precompiled ROMs and precompiled software that runs on mainstream desktops to load those ROMs over universal standards (USB). Even with JTAG embedded programming was a PITA.