Recalbox is an option
GL.iNet has a mesh router based on OpenWRT and supports WireGuard.
https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-b1300/
I have the Flint 2 and like it quite a lot but don't have experience with this other router.
Watch videos from Naomi Brockwell. She covers many privacy topics and makes it easy to understand
I highly suggest a RPi5 running LibreElec or Recalbox if you also want to play retro games alongside streaming shows. Both operating systems would use Kodi, a media player for self-hosting or streaming mostly pirated content. They both support CEC and Arc.
Edit: Didn't see that this was in the Kodi community already so you clearly know what it is
I personally haven't ever had it that difficult. My laptop has an nvidia card running mint and is dual booting with Windows with no issues. I've previously setup an encrypted Ubuntu on an external drive that can be loaded on any computer without issues. I've used Bazzite on an all AMD modern gaming powerhouse, and Kinoite on two laptops with integrated graphics with no issues. Also KDE Neon on a crappy old HP Laptop with no issues.
So you may have done something wrong in the process of installation, maybe your USB drive was corrupted, or maybe you tinkered alittle too much while not knowing exactly what you were doing.
Good points
I suggest Fedora Kinoite. An atomic version of Fedora (meaning it's hard to mess up and easy to revert if you do manage to f things up) and it uses the Plasma desktop. The kernel is quite up-to-date and everything feels modern. I've transitioned a few noobs from Windows and they haven't had any issues besides learning basics that are just different than what they are used to.
Mint with Cinnamon feels outdated and Ubuntu is a thing of the past with questionable tactics and goals.
Find his information in a data breach and log into one of his accounts. Post something to prove it and show him how important it is to care about privacy/security
Or exploited by the government
I find most people don't know of the alternatives but they are open to change as they are unhappy with current options that they are aware of. I've talked with a few people that were surprisingly open to to trying Linux. They didn't know how easy it is to use and install but jumped on the opportunity as they were unhappy with Windows.
"A primary concern for Petrucelli, Jenkins, and Antell, longtime documentary filmmakers and co-founders of the Archival Producers Alliance (APA), is to avoid a situation in which AI-generated images make their way into documentaries without proper disclosure, creating a false historical record."
They shouldn't be in a documentary period. A documentary is meant to be factual and historical so nothing fake should be injected into it.
Okami is great