Just to continue the attempts at thinking through and as a contrast, if it happens...

Fortunately, software costs are not a concern to me. Unusually, I do have one bit of paid for software on that machine (Xeoma – I’ve not found free open source Linux software I like for the cameras and I reached the conclusion that Zone Minder, probably the most popular, is a terrible resource hog) but the licences should transfer easily enough, I hope…

Hardware shouldn’t be a concern either. I’ll look up a “problem free” MB (all current desktop PCs here use the AMD 970 chipset which is great with one kernel parameter, iommu=soft, added to the boot but I’m looking at a different/newer AMD CPU socket and therefore chipset this time) and I’ll stick with my long term choice of a nVidia graphics card with their proprietary drivers – their Linux support has been good for many years. The Epson P50 photo ink jet (connected over the LAN via an ancient print sharer) should “just work”. The Xerox Laser 6010N at least has always been a simple download and RPM install. TBS always have maintained regular updates for their Linux drivers for tuner cards, it’s a lengthy compile but one I’ve been through a few times before.

I also have a Brother label printer on the current machine and that was a bit of a struggle last time as I had problems with their drivers, eventually managed to get a foomatic alternative running but wound up having to modify the ppd to get things as I wanted. I doubt I’d bother with that one this time. It seemed a good idea at the time but, in practice, all label printing here has been done via Brother’s Android app.

My biggest problem is that I’ve got so much dependent on the one machine and I suspect there will be a few configuration changes from the outdated version of OpenSuse still running on the old box. There are also things including Cyrus email folders to transfer somehow… Still, I can build so far my end of the house, should (with the exception of the tv card) be able to keep the old box as a drop in replacement in case things go wrong. The biggest pain regarding the latter is that this time of the year, the location, itself a tight corner by the tv, is blocked by an often full log basket. I’m not looking forward to this job at all but I think it should be done, and I shouldn’t really be using the OS version I am on the old one…

---
On the monitor inputs, I used to use a KVM switch on my desk but now settle for switching a usb dongle for kb/mouse and use the monitors switching for display. Dvi is my desktop, vega is an old mini ITX I sometimes play with and hdmi is a “floater” which would be used, eg. for the initial build of this new PC.

Hdmi would also have been used for odd dabbles with eg. Raspberry PI (although much of that sort of thing would be via ssh) but I now have a 10” monitor for that. Well that’s it’s main purpose. I got a Freeview/dvb-t2 tv with the required external port. The other side just may be handy if someone was away from home or if mum for example wanted to be in the garden and keep an eye on something on tv – it’s been requested for eg. 6 Nations in the past...