Does he have much experience with computers? Not sure if it’d be easier to set him up with something like ChimeraOS that just runs Steam and the game or a basic desktop environment so he can write stuff and browse the internet.
In the aged care home I work in, we’ve had a few who can work a smart phone but most can barely work their TV. Being into RC planes might work in his favour.
They’re Ryzen processors with “AI” accelerators, so an LLM can definitely run on hardware on one of those. Other options are available, like lower powered ARM chipsets (RK3588-based boards) with accelerators that might have half the performance but are far cheaper to run, should be enough for a basic LLM.