Not exactly bare minimum but something like Recalbox?
I miss the cartridge days too but this is not so practical anymore. Also you'll get the best results with DRM-free games, whatever you decide.
What I would do is, buying a big HDD and fill it with installers. You can put cover images on/as folders if you want.
For save files, build a sync structure on a server (local one would be more feasible with something like syncthing). You can do that with Nextcloud or Dropbox etc. as well.
No problem! I'm in the same boat since I have to deal with Android TV as well but it sucks. It's hard to find an open source alternative for anything. It's a sealed box unless you install a custom ROM which is not the case for most of the devices, especially smart TVs. You can sideload apks over adb
though, if you can find an app that is not on Google Play. If you don't use a Google account, you have to sideload everything anyway (which is what I did last time).
There is TV Bro as @Babalugats suggested but it's not comfortable as Browser and it's not so up-to-date. Most of the open source apps you'll encounter have the same issue. It's not that developers don't want to develop apps for Android TV, it's just Google (and manufacturers) don't let them to play around freely.
Wish I could help since I looked for this a lot but sadly Android TV is a barrens for FOSS apps. Though following this thread if you find something.
Currently we use Browser at home, at least it has an adblocker. Generally I hate Android TV. I would use a LibreELEC TV if I could.
Jabba Dabba Hoot
Testing waters but no idea for what.
Thanks, now it got worse for me too. -_-
Thank God my English is not enough to understand these.
Yesterday, I had to deal with Windows and I noticed that the top option on the right-click menu was Copilot. It's getting worse and worse apparently.
From GNU/Linux to GUN/Linux
Oh, I see. That sounds great, and fun (preparing the distro part). And it will probably be future-proof as well since it will be intact for the game.
I like this idea.