Hi Joe,

It depends what you mean by 'Free' and 'Suitable'. LinuxCNC is free, but I wouldn't like to take it on at my age. For a start I am settled with Mach3 and on this forum there is a wealth of experience with it. That is not to say there are not experts on LinuxCNC here - there are and lots of other controllers are discussed, but they all cost money.

My solution, if I were you, would be ask your machine supplier why no licence included, or purchase a licence from Artsoft directly (especially if your supplier is in China). If you can run a cut in Demo mode, then you are well on they way with Mach3.

I am saying this with no knowledge of your machine, give us the details please !

That is my two pennies worth - no doubt others will step in with more and better advice.

Cheers,

Rob