so, i've sorted through my notes from 2017 and pulled out the following:

old laptop - nothing <---it was in the closet, at the time.

old desktop - nothing  <----still the tv

access point - rca sound out, ps/2 mouse/keyboard combo.   <----this was the converted recording pc, with several parts stripped out.

cq60 - guitar interface   <-----i wanted to turn the compaq laptop into a real time guitar effects processor. that's no longer feasible, due to the broken screen.

pav g6 - editing software?  <--- at the time, it still booted, but the screen was dead. i was going to connect this to the access point via rj-45 and use it as an external processor for editing videos for vlogging, strictly. and a big part of why i haven't uploaded any vlogs in several years is that i never got around to it....

new desktop - square dvi or hdmi monitor,  new audio receiver & studio monitor speakers <---new recording pc, built from new components and old parts.

how can i update this?

old laptop - i need to get more ram for this thing. i can max it out for cheap and should. it could still work as a tv.

old desktop - i previously upgraded the ram in this machine for cheap and put a firewire connector in it. it's pretty much maxed out, but i can't use it as a tv, as it just can't run an html5 browser, even maxxed out. but, it is maxxed out and that's something i can take advantage of in putting 98 on it. it has a working dvd-reader (no writer) in it, which is ironically less important than it was even five years ago. it has a tv tuner (and could take a cable in if i had one) and i'm putting the sb live it came with back in it, with the front-end interface. so, it's going to be just like when i bought it, but upgraded as much as is possible to take maximum ram specs. i don't think i need to add anything else to it

access point - i was using the cq60 as the access point and would like to go back to it if i can get it to work. i have newish ram, a newish battery & a newish hard drive. but, the machine has seemingly been heavily hacked, for what reason, exactly, i don't fully understand. until then, i need to use the chromebook to get on the internet - and the ability to powerwash the device is highly useful given the constant police harassment that i'm apparently under.

guitar interface - i no longer have a laptop that i can convert into a guitar interface. this idea is not entirely ejected, but no longer makes much sense to think about it. i mean, the logic was that i had this extra laptop that was perfectly fine - i no longer have an extra, perfectly working laptop but rather have four mostly broken laptops.

pav g6 - if i can fix this, i'd like to convert it into a video processor. if i can't, i need to find something else to process video with.

recording pc - keep the same, more or less. this machine works, but i need to keep it off the internet to prevent interference in what i'm doing.

new pc - build into 64 bit recording pc for eventual use. i'm penciling in the matlab project, iirc.

the new item is "mobile device", which i had used both the broken hps for in the past and never really got to use the chromebook much for. i should try to fix the chromebook one way or the other; if i can fix it well enough to salvage it as a mobile device, great. for now, it's the access point. and, it would no doubt make a better tv, if it comes to it. but, then i need a new mobile device.

ok.

i've got these ideas clear in my head, again.

now, i need to find a more detailed post that explains what i wanted to keep in the old pc and move to the new one, before i put the old pc away for a bit.