Programming an engraver

[patch]

I have a Gravograf engraver whose controler has broken leaving only the power unit and stepper motors. I have written a program in VB net to read an HPGL file (of the design I want to engrave) and send pulses to the machine. Works a treat with Windows 98. With Windows XP the machine makes horible noises 'cos XP does not normally run in Hard Real Time. Can anybody help me to overcome my problem?
Best regards
Patch

[BillTodd]

You'll probably hate this, since you've already done so much work but..

Have a look at EMC2 (http://www.linuxcnc.org/)running under linux to control your machine. Use a hpgl to G code converter (or start with a DXF file and convert to G code which may be easier).

[irving2008]

I have a Gravograf engraver whose controler has broken leaving only the power unit and stepper motors. I have written a program in VB net to read an HPGL file (of the design I want to engrave) and send pulses to the machine. Works a treat with Windows 98. With Windows XP the machine makes horible noises 'cos XP does not normally run in Hard Real Time. Can anybody help me to overcome my problem?
Best regards
Patch

Hi patch and welcome.
While Bill is right that EMC/Linux is a good machine controller (and one I use) there is a Windows alternative, MACH3 which is also free (as long as your job is less than 500 lines of GCode) and runs on XP - it deals with the real-time issues.