I'd be curious for a collection of such project in order to step back, see how many are genuinely new, seem how many rely on drivers from other platforms, or existing hacks that didn't yet have a popular interface.

I'm speculating here but I also love how a new tool, despite it's obvious limitations and side effects, can open up a whole workflow and liberate device. Yet... most projects like this I have seen are not as novel as they seem. They mostly seem to democratize or popularize hard work done elsewhere.

To give a concrete example somebody posted here on HN some months ago how to use a tablet on Mac that lacked drivers. I commented it was amazing, someone replied the open source Linux driver had been available for years. I noticed another project like this after, now I'm wondering if it's a pattern. It would still be useful work, but not as novel as it initially seem.