Incredible how software companies can be actively hostile to customers.

IRC is great. The challenge is picking a client for the family, and getting them set up. It’s not friction free.

Jitsi is good as an ad hoc communication tool, but it won’t replace a “chat / sms” tool. I took a small peek at SimpleX, and it looks quite complex. Not sure if it really is.

You can run an LLM, but it will be limited. Look into Open Vino Model Server.

I’d recommend a minimal install distro (Ubuntu server, Arch, Gentoo, etc…), then add the things you need from there.

Document every step. <— important

And their dog.