"Other and bigger problems out there". And who exactly are your family members to believe they have authority on a matter of your identity? Unless you are a minor or there are other factors (such as economic ones) at play, it's your decision to make.
A matter of time. Everything will play out, just don't take their 'advice' for actual advice. And don't take a stranger's either.
You'll be alright.
Sounds very interesting. Do take a look, ask around. Was hoping you would get more mature answers than what my limited knowledge can tell you. For the OS you could use something like retropi, although I'd focus more on stability rather than presentation if it's for an event like the one you're describing.
Take a look at cyberdecks. From what I gather they're actual computers (sometimes just a raspberry pi compute module for instance) but in alternative formats, so their "shells" are always different.
Fuck Toronto Jungle is a masterpiece
And that's how I ended up moving from software that "knew better than me" and chose for me.