

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.


I hear you. When I mentioned a mini I didn’t mean a no-name. Most enterprise manufacturers make minis, and support Linux. Search “Lenovo tiny Linux” for example.