The software side of things is a big problem in that you will unless you start to sell items never make up the large cost of the software.
So what are the options, cambam do a free version which I have used and is reasonable for whta I want to do at the moment. Then there is Flashcut CNC3 which loads and can create gcode for free see http://www.mycncuk.com/forums/showth...light=software post 5 by JohnS
This will get you most of the way down the learning curve.
I have Autocad Lt but it will not run on my Vista machine so I have to transfer dxf files to the vista machine so much for progress. Looking at the new Windows7 professional which will run a version of XP but needs a clean install so I'll just wait as this is a hobby and not a bottom less money pit.
Just had a dya of more learning the ins and outs of cnc in that the software used with my controller Easycnc2 has an engraving function taht I have been playing with. For small print it appears to be OK but as I wanted bigger the curves to letters was a bit lacking so, I tried the Cambam text and it was a lot rounder flowing output, So produced the gcode and input it into easycnc2 and run it in emulate wtf it was producing great swirles all over the place?
Had a look on the web for an emulator, found one download and run it text was great. Loaded the code into the mill and produced great swirles as per the emulator. Quick email to CDE produced the fact that there was an option for G02 and G03 code in that for arcs there is an option to do them in absolute or incremental fashion. Put a tick in the box and the text is now OK.

You just have to take it one step at a time!

Peter