The only complex part of the hardware is the HP cartridge controller, and you have at least part of the work here: https://hackaday.io/project/176931-hp-printer-cartridge-control-module/details

Was “Yakety sax” playing in the background when they said that?

Brother HL 2030, and the scanner is a Mustek 1248UB, both chosen for their Linux compatibility at the time. And most likely both discontinued.

We’re not exactly great at economics too…

Because remaking the world to suit what robots we can make is more work.

Too bad so few PC GPUs support HDMI CEC: you wouldn’t need a dedicated IR port on the machine, and your parents wouldn’t have to figure out a new remote.

Well, I have a Chuwi Hi8 that I recently managed to get to mostly run on Linux (The hardware is a bit on the strange side: It’s meant to be more an Android tablet than a PC, and outdated as hell). Gnome works pretty well, but scrolling can be a pain if the app isn’t really meant for touchscreens. But it’s good enough for browsing at least…