oh that's neat!

> Easiest to run it on a dedicated Linux box somewhere, because it's a bit of a Docker circus.

no lack of those... i also have a few of these computers (in-flight entertainment systems) from the etnaviv days, that i wanted to use, at least for the control interface
https://media.x0f.org/ac3aa74f10e073357709ba9f7b548fed9867424d44b8352c42aa2d0973410e29.webp
https://media.x0f.org/bae948365bbdd6bd8ec5f7891e90941a4a06c72e6cd0218e4e247ba84e1a8688.webp
 

 Then you can get your hands on a zigbee coordinator either to USB or Ethernet and run zigbee2mqtt as service aswell on that computer. Connects easily to Home Assistant. All zigbee smart bulbs i have used works without any hassle. IKEA has many different for a cheap price.