So, I'm finally upgrading my workhorse office laptop and will have an old but functional Dell Latitude Win 7 machine spare as a result. In the workshop the CNC machines are controlled by an even more venerable Dell WinXP desktop through the parallel port, and I'm wondering about moving the laptop to the workshop and replacing the XP machine, controlling the machines using a USB motion controller. I aim to stick with Mach 3 because it works, I understand it reasonably well, and I've written some useful extra macros for tool setting. I'm interested in people's experience to help with this decision. Another option, though more expensive, would be an Ethernet controller.

1. Will the UC100 work OK with a Win 7 laptop (obviously I'm no longer using a parallel port and would need the appropriate plugins)?

2. Does the UC100 support the probing input properly? That's very important for me for tool setting, for both mill and lathe.

3. If I decide to ditch Mach 3 at some stage, has anyone experience of the UC100 with other CNC packages such as Mach 4?

Yes, I will ask the UC100 supplier the same questions but interested in customers' experience in the real world.

Thanks in advance for any help