The D1 based miniboards seem to be the currently only alternative for what I would like to do. Only the mango pi board I guess, or any others?

I could not confirm if the k210 has a usb controller (not the UART<->USB dongle).

See the list of boards part of the D1 article[0] in linux-sunxi wiki. There are at least 5 options listed.

Lichee RV (with a breakout dock board) is the one I have.

https://linux-sunxi.org/D1

Thanks for the page. I guess I would have to go for the mangopi: usb-c device/power port and the GPIOs.