> The UX barrier to entry is very high without hand-holding or extensive online searching and a strong willingness to persevere in the face of adversity.

I dunno if it is all as high as it appears. I learned to navigate and use Unix type systems in the mid 90s, with only terminal access.

Internet was practically non existent and gopher was still (barely) in active use.

So, yeah, for a start, I don't know if extensive online resources are necessary. For example, I learned most of bash from the bash manages.