After spending the holidays with my family I am once again reminded of the need for a computer with dedicated hardware for seniors. Whenever we talk about parents and tech we picture an old woman wearing a shawl trying to operate a computer that's turned off, and that's unfair: the problem is not that my mom doesn't understand how a mouse works (she does) but rather that her OS keeps moving things around, breaking the muscle memory on which she relies after losing her eyesight. And while a younger person would rely on accessibility software like the Orca screen reader, all my mom wants is to keep doing what she already knows.

My mom's computer needs are modest: listening to audiobooks, podcasts, voice notes, and getting reliable, repeatable answers to simple questions. Under her current setup only the first two are painless (relatively speaking) while the last two are impossible. Case in point: listening to an audiobook (that I download for her in a shared folder) requires turning on her computer, wait for the screen reader, press the Windows key, type "books", press Enter, Esc, Alt-Tab, scroll down to the right book, Enter, Ctrl+G, enter a page number, Enter, Esc, and finally Insert+Arrow Down, at which point the screen reader will finally read the book from the given page number.

One may think that a voice interface would be the solution, but our experiences have been mixed: while good for listening and replying to messages, asking Siri a question on her really-not-cheap iPhone ends up with Siri replying "I found this, take a look" (not the best phrasing, but whatever) and then performing an equally-complex series of swipes and clicks after which, more often than not, my mom gives up and asks whoever is around. Alexa isn't any better, alternating between misunderstanding our questions and trying to sell us premium apps.

The problem here is that my mom is expected to adapt to the technology instead of the other way around. What she needs is a simple device with roughly five customizable physical buttons (touchscreens are out for obvious reasons), two knobs, mic and speakers, and nothing else. One knob would select a function (list books, list audiobooks, list notes, etc), the other would control the volume, the buttons would depend on the current function (play and pause for podcasts, next page for audiobooks, and so on), and that's it. Connect the box to the WiFi (config provided via a file in the SD card) and we're good to go.

I know I can write the software for such a device, but the hardware is trickier. The input buttons are straightforward, the knobs less so, I have ideas for handling the mic, and the enclosure would be 3D printed. The OS would be Linux with remote access for troubleshooting, and all that's left is the two hundred unexpected tiny issues that always pop up. And then there's the question of whether a joystick wouldn't be a better choice...

I'm not saying I'll find the time to do it, but I'm definitely thinking about it.