Detail for clarity re “Imagining an HF Appliance Based on the zBitx”: architecturally, the zBitX is already its own appliance. (I reckon Steve @n8gnj knows: he concentrated on adapting its hardware to a new environment.)
The zBitX UI is web based, and important signal and control plumbing can also be TCP/IP. Some work on configuration will be required to expose it, but not too much.
Farhan VU2ESE described the stack at FDIM 2024, half an hour into his presentation: https://youtu.be/2MeFZb9Dxbg?t=31m10s