Is there any manual or info on rooting unkown/chinese/cheap Android devices?

I have a cheap tablet running android 4.2.2. There is no device specific docs on rooting it or any hacking information. Between all the device specific rooting guides, it is hard to find any general information on rooting/hacking android devices. So I guess I need to start looking at the type of bootloader in my android device, the chipset/processor, etc to see if I can do anything with it. I am totally willing to brick the thing, but do need a bit of extra background information on hacking an android device from scratch. I am thinking of installing some kind of "standard" linux version on it just for the hell of it. Does anyone have any recommendations on documentation or guides or other pointers? Thanks a lot,

Dolf.