If Da Vinci is a poor clone of solidoodle.....

The Da Vinci isn't really a clone of anything, though of course it is similar in function to most of the printers that aren't rostock based.

Due to the proprietary nature of the machine, many have suggested the "rip and replace" method to turn the Da Vinci into another reprap machine, but that is probably a bad idea. The issue with just replacing things is that in most cases what XYZ used is used in many reprap machines already. The "motherboard" is an Arduino Due there is also nothing that is particularly unique about the rest of the machine. This is why the people over at Voltivo forums were able to come up with alternate firmware that Repetier could work with on the Da Vinci.

If you truly want something more open than what XYZ wants to sell you, I think that waiting for the alternative firmware to get better is the route to take. If you go the "rip and replace" route,you would still have to calibrate everything yourself for just "your machine", but going with the alternate firmware you gain the advantage of known starting numbers to work from that others have already found.