Thanks again everyone for the advice. Greatly appreciated.


At the moment I'm not 100% sure on which software route to go down. I'd probably shy aware from Linux at the moment as I have no experience with it. As CNC is new itself for me, I'd rather begin with an OS I know well.


The Planet CNC seems tempting to me currently as it looks like it could be a bit more beginner friendly.. what did you find was too basic about it?
The only thing is as mentioned, I'm not keen on not being to use other software with the board.. but maybe it's a price worth paying..


OK.. so if I go the planetCNC ethernet controller route.. what shall I do about the PC situation? Shall I build one using the Asus H61M-Pro I have coming or is the energy saving features going to make it completely unreliable? Or as I need a good PC there anyway, shall I just give it a go and if not then buy a cheap pentium 4 or something without the new features..? What would you do if you were me?