Comment by MOARDONGZPLZ

A lot of this is pretty POC-y. Agree digital to analog to analog to digital is kinda inefficient, and in the abstract MAC to PHY (which is probably what you mean when you say MAC to MAC) with RGMII is probably better. My off the cuff guess is that it is likely the written-up interface is easier to access or requires less diving into internals. Not sure where the RGMII lines are, and depending on the design of the Starlink mini itself (I am ignorant of this) the lines might have been buried deeper and less accessible, who knows.