Commonly in a PC you have the BIOS which initializes CPU, RAM, and then executes code from a device (usually the bootloader). There is no such thing in ARM, each device has its own custom code to initialize the hardware and load the operating system. Sometimes that code is embedded in ROM memory which makes it harder until someone finds a way to overwrite it (bug or hardware hack). Not impossible, but certainly no quick and easy.
If you plan to install linux on it, try to find an "easily hackable" device, or better: get one that already comes with linux.
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Commonly in a PC you have the BIOS which initializes CPU, RAM, and then executes code from a device (usually the bootloader). There is no such thing in ARM, each device has its own custom code to initialize the hardware and load the operating system. Sometimes that code is embedded in ROM memory which makes it harder until someone finds a way to overwrite it (bug or hardware hack). Not impossible, but certainly no quick and easy.
If you plan to install linux on it, try to find an "easily hackable" device, or better: get one that already comes with linux.