Dingoonity.org

It simply doesn't seem possible to obtain a new one anymore, and used ones go for insane prices on ebay.
Should I just give up on trying to get one? I bought an alternative (coolboy/baby RS-97) that's slightly slower but seems to be built on the same architecture, but I have no idea if development is going to pick up on it. It seems like most of the community is gone.

It's definitely dead. I have released some things for it but until i can get it repaired, you should not expect more from me.
As for everyone else, they already moved on 2 years ago... And also, no new GCW0s were made since a few years or so.
Most would recommend to buy a GPD Win/XD or wait for the Openbox Pyra.

Hasn't the pyra been out for "pre-order" for over year now?
And honestly the hardware looks too weak for the insane price they're gonna charge.
Do you think there's any hope for the current community to move on to those new dingux devices?

I'd say yes. I e-mailed Zear on the 21st February 2018 and have received no response. The e-mail goes as follows:

Hello Zear,

As someone who bought into the GCW Zero, I am wondering if you knew what happened to it considering you are a major contributor to the project.

I was also wondering what happened to the Unnamed Monkey Game, is it still in development? Do you have further plans for it such as releasing it on itch.io
 or Steam (or GOG.com further along down the line)?

Did they die off or is something else planned?

I like your work,

Hal Motley

Now I appreciate that Zear is probably a busy guy and responding to an e-mail out of thin air isn't much of a priority, but a lack of response feels like the verification of the idea that everybody has given up on the little MIPS handheld. Particularly when Zear alone really shaped the device (thank you Zear).

In my opinion it would be awesome if the schematics for GCW-Zero were publically released, but my issue was the ergonomics of the device. The GCW-Zero wasn't a conformable device, ontop of the fact it makes the Raspberry Pi 3 look powerful.

As an idealist, I'd ideally like to see the open-source games that made the GCW-Zero amazing ported over to Retroarch. I'd also request that Zear consider open-source the Unamed Monkey Game (UMG) if it's no-longer being worked on. I have thrown $5 towards a bounty (https://www.bountysource.com/issues/48236003-new-core-for-solarus-engine) to port Solarus over which is a start, as well as creating a suggestion thread https://forums.libretro.com/t/adding-gcw-zero-games/9692 of games I'd like ported. I think with more people requesting this sort of action and more dollars in bounty donations, the more likely the games will appear on Retroarch's catalogue and therefore be playable on just about anything.

Good to know some activity is coming the console, I try not to be too pessimistic after all. Although the site's news feed hasn't been updated since 20 November 2016: http://www.gcw-zero.com/news

I guess there is some minor homebrew activity on the console, but GCW as a whole seems to have left it be.

There are still a couple of new releases to come for the GCW Zero, but there's not much more open source stuff out there to port.

Maybe no easy ports left, but there are plenty of games which could be adapted with some work. I keep a list of unported games to investigate; unfortunately, I haven't had time to get through the list. Some examples of promising games: Jump 'n' Bump, Slime Volleyball, Tennix!, Trackballs, Zatacka X, Last Eichhof, Super Transbal 2, NetPuzzleArena. These games are open source, use simple controls, and should be playable at low resolution.

I've previously helped port FreeBlocks and RogueBox Adventures. Neither was originally designed for 320x240, but if the code is good or if the original developer is available, most should take a few days of total work to port.