Availability can be an issue either way. What if a required part that the USB dongle uses reaches EOL like the transformer on the SSR4. It's way to early in the year to worry about availability yet. And if for some reason it looks like you might be able to get one in time for the season, you can always order the parts for the USB dongle from mouser and the board from RJ and build it then. I would also bet that there will be some availble already built from happy EtherDonge owners who don't really need it anymore. Any way that you want to spin it, the EtherDongle is the future for the Lynks controller and really the way to go. As for getting started now, I agree but you really don't need any controllers at all to do that. All you need is the sequencing software and the visualizer to begin sequencing.