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[LUG] New computer time

 

Finally can't be put off....

I need a new machine for home.

Whilst at some distant point in the past I would have had a clue what is current, because I bought hardware, I've been deskilled by the cloud to the point where I have no idea what is out there beyond those shiny and expensive DELL laptops aimed at developers (I'm tempted but no....).

I need a box that will run a free software operating system.

It doesn't need to move (e.g. not a laptop).

It needs to support several small virtual machines (think one to serve music/files to house running a fair bit, several for testing stuff). Unlikely to run more than 3 virtual machines are once.

It needs to be quiet, and scale down power use effectively when not in use (e.g. power management wants to be decent), since it'll never be switched off, but it mustn't destroy the planet.

I have previously backed up remote servers to this device, this should continue. Also runs Nagios and related types of test/monitoring.

I use it as desktop, previously GNOME (but not fussed as long as it is reasonably sane).

As I back-up to it, I will want disk mirroring, at least for any data (/home).

I don't expect to use it for gaming, but basic 3D graphic support so that if I try a game, or other program that requires it, it will at least run without me aging too much.

The old monitor whilst working fine is 1024x768, so will be replaced by something with full HD, and big enough for my aging eyes.

I'm in the lucky position where I can afford all sorts, but would prefer to spend the money on cars/kitchens or possibly even retiring before I die. Guessing with such modest requirements by today's standards this sort of box isn't going to be as much as I spent on the current machine.

Is there a compelling OS, hardware, graphics card, monitor combination I should leap at?

Is there any reason not to find a cheap tower-like box that supports 16GB of RAM and that will run Debian, and fill it with the hardware of my choice.

Oh and is there a good up to date tutorial on running server side filtering with Postfix, and Dovecot (ala Sieve), since the box is still doing client side email filtering for me and that sucks. Has to be filtering configurable by my relatives (as they are no doubt still cursing me for being "relaxed" about replacing the x509 certificate on the mail server).

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