Link next_posts_link to a different template?

I’m using a custom template (home.php) for my home page. I have it displaying the page content for the homepage, and under that, a query for 1 post, to show the most recent post.

The homepage URL is the site root, not a template URL: https://pugix.com/synth/

I’d like to create a link to “more recent posts” which uses next_posts_link (as this is not a single-post-view page.)

This link loads the same home.php template, which doesn’t do exactly the job I’d like: 1. show excerpts not content, 2. leave out the “most recent activity” homepage post.

I could be happy with the home.php template if I could include some conditionals that check whether the url is a /page/[number and thereby hide the second part of the page.

hmm, would is_front_page() work? (I’ll try that)

Here’s what home.php looks like:

<?php
/*
Template Name: Home
*/
?>

<?php get_header(); ?>

<div id="content-wrap"><div id="content">
	<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
    <div id="main">

    <?php
          if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
        <div class="post">
		<h2 id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>	

		<?php the_content(__('(more...)')); ?>

		<?php link_pages('<p><strong>Pages:</strong> ', '</p>', 'number'); ?>

	</div>

	  <?php endwhile; endif; ?>
	<?php edit_post_link('Edit this entry.', '<p>', '</p>'); ?>

	<?php query_posts('showposts=1');
	        if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>

        <h3>My most recent activity:</h3>
		<div class="navigation">
			<div class="align-left"><?php next_posts_link('&laquo; More recent posts', '0'); ?></div>
		</div>
	<div class="post">
         <h2 id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>"><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>
		<?php the_content(__('(more...)')); ?>

		<?php link_pages('<p><strong>Pages:</strong> ', '</p>', 'number'); ?>

	</div> <!-- Closes post -->
		<div class="navigation">
			<div class="align-left"><?php next_posts_link('&laquo; More recent posts', '0'); ?></div>
		</div>

		<?php endwhile; endif; ?>
            <?php edit_post_link('Edit this entry.', '<p>', '</p>'); ?>

    </div>
<!-- End main -->

</div></div> <!-- end content and content-wrap -->

<?php get_footer(); ?>