If your parents are “hardly computer-literate Boomer”, their use will be pretty basic, no? Why waste a steam machine? Get a slightly used Lenovo or other enterprise grade SFF pc, or even a mini. Install Debian with KDE or Mint. Ultra stable, Massive support. If possible with a Ryzen. Plenty of graphics power even for ligh/medium gaming. Driver problems are unlikely in a 2-3 year old business machine, and will be relevant for 5-10 years for their kind of use.
grue@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
I already did that. My mom freaked out because it got kinda hot once and started whining about how she should’ve stuck with a Mac. So now if I want her to stay on Linux it has to be a mini PC that comes with it from the manufacturer, and AFAIK the Steam Machine is the only such thing that exists.
I fucking know it’s irrational!