These questions are best answered by answering the unsaid question first: "What is the Linux PC Robot?" It is a hobby robot platform that you can build without a lot of specialized components, with few (if any) specialized programming languages, and that has the ability to do real mobile robotics work, for under $500.
The LPCR was born at a time when the idea of a $500 capable robot was radical. A Pentium-class desktop PC running Linux was not a throwaway device — it was a serious computer. Attaching one to a robot chassis gave you real multitasking, real networking, real storage, and real programming tools that embedded controllers of the era simply could not match.
So why "obsolete?" Because the world changed. The Raspberry Pi — a full Linux computer the size of a credit card for $35 — accomplishes everything the LPCR's ATX board does in a fraction of the space, weight, and power draw. Arduino provides cheap, real-time I/O for motor control. The combination of the two is, frankly, a better architecture for a new robot build today.
And why keep working on it? Because the LPCR still works, and working on a real system — even a technically superseded one — teaches real lessons. Refactoring the control interface, improving the message-passing architecture, tuning the PID loop: all of this produces knowledge and code that transfers directly to any robot platform. The LPCR is obsolete as a recommended starting point. It is not obsolete as a learning platform.
As for the long gaps between posts: this is a one-person hobby project. Real work, real life, and other obligations take priority. Progress continues when time allows.