take a look at endless os.

https://www.endlessglobal.com/foundation/access/operating-system

specifically, the ‘full’ install with all the goodies and content ‘preinstalled’.

notes from personal experience (i use endless at home): don’t be tempted by the ability to install alongside windows and dual boot. it’s not optimal by any stretch. that configuration uses windows as the boot manager (windows has to basically boot to get to that menu), and endless and its data is then stored in a loop device (slow, especially with old hdd). do a normal install (use the ‘advanced’ option in the windows installer to make an ‘endless usb stick’ then choose the ‘full’ image). you will need a 64gb flash drive for an english language ‘full’ installer of the current (6.0.8) version.

the form itself is easy, it’s the bot detection and spam prevention that’s hard. on my own sites, i’ve given-in and use the highest-level recaptcha, a hidden form field triggered by bots but not humans, and a server-side script for the mailing that also has some spam detection routines. they still get through, but far less often than a naked form would.

if you’re satisfied with your existing comments function, can you simply enable comments on your ‘contact’ page and hide them from public view?

if they have shown any interest at all in programming, regular expressions is another topic that would be worthwhile to start learning ‘early’.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five?

That’s amazing. I’ve got the same combination on my luggage.

i’ve got one user who has refused to update their win7 system for a full decade–literally the entire lifecycle of win10. offered to set up a dual boot for her and she seemed to be receptive of that–even bought a nice big ssd drive for it, but she never used it and never upgraded. husband says that ssd is still in the damn box sitting on a shelf. i expect to hear from her when that now tired old hdd in her (i think) wolfdale-era win7 finally craps out.

Literally no one is throwing away a working machine just because some deadline passes.

yes. yes they are. we’ve taken in a lot more ‘junk’ systems over the last six months than we ever have.

many of those who aren’t tossing their pc on the heap are paying for the updates or jumping through the link-and-sync bullshit for them.

microsoft’s scare tactics work, and work very well.

yup. i have a bunch of users that won’t be happy. they only still have fb for messenger, use the messenger app, and never go to fb itself anymore.

have to have PiHoles and other DNS sinkholes for a basic protection, which is hard for regular people

mullvad’s free dns. free for all, not just their subscribers. encrypted doh or dot only. a basic ad and malware blocking dns sinkhole is a fairly simple configuration away if your os supports it (win11 and android do… those are what i’ve set it up on for others so far).

https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls

not a whole lot of takers here either, and not a single one yet due to win10’s “retirement”.

everyone wants windows. but after that, most are pretty receptive of other foss options like libreoffice.

while a straight dvi-d to dvi-d cable is quite uncommon to need today, i have used a bunch of hdmi to dvi-d adapter cables the last couple months to hook up new desktops to older displays that had vga and dvi-d inputs.

just give 'em time. it’s still a bit early in the game for that play

iirc, they did do a limited regional test of subscription windows back sometime during win7.

rufus doesn’t help with preloads that you don’t want to or can’t, for whatever reason, overwrite with a ‘clean’ install.

perhaps higher amongst fediverse users, but not with the general public… default settings all around–including auto updates, no intentionally installed browser addons, maybe a wallpaper change. but that’s it… is the most common windows configuration we see, by far.

you could just point them to everybody’s favorite github-hosted script which has an option to unlock extended updates.

some of the schools around me just post on their web site or fb when they’re getting rid of old systems. they’re gone within an hour or two… they’re priced to sell fast.

for shits and giggles i took a win7 and a win81 straight to iot 24 with no problems on either. run the upgrade from a rufus’d (these were 2009-10 era desktops) usb made from a modded (upgradematrix) iso. going to 10 ltsc or iot should be the same process.

if i had to provide a pc for work at home, it’d be a separate machine used exclusively for that, and isolated on its own lan.

since you’re buying parts, you can specifically look for boards with 6-8 (more than that will require a ‘specialty’ board). 8 isn’t impossible to find. start a build on pcpartpicker, go straight to motherboards and filter 8 or more ‘SATA 6Gb/s Ports’, then sort low-to-high on price. you should find a msi pro am4 and an asus prime am5 that are quite reasonably priced and have multiple reputable vendors selling them.

otherwise you’re looking for an expansion card to add to a board you’ve already got or to expand one of those above for even more.

of course, you need the drive bays to hold them all, too. which can be harder to find at a reasonable and affordable price than motherboards and controller cards.

linux mint’s “installers” can boot into a live environment.