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For you folks that do decide to set your relative up with Linux, consider giving yourselves remote access with NX and leaving port 22 on your router/firewall open to point to their machine. That should let you troubleshoot just about everything except hardware and network problems.
You'll need more real estate if you can't put electronics behind the screen. I guess you could have a flip up semi-transparent touch screen. Use it from the front when it's down and from the back when you flip it up.