Author here. MNT actually went out of their way to make sure you could use the device without this blob: rather than do the obvious thing and wire up HDMI or DP

Author here. MNT actually went out of their way to make sure you could use the device without this blob: rather than do the obvious thing and wire up HDMI or DP to the laptop's internal display (both of which require the blob), they used the MIPI DSI interface and a DSI to eDP converter chip. But yeah, if you want to use the external HDMI port on the laptop, you need the blob.