m_c,
Maybe I got lucky, but never had any trouble getting things working with the parallel port and LinuxCNC. I think some people have had trouble with add-on parallel cards rather than using an old mobo with it built in and I do remember some problems when I tried to use the on-board graphics of my current board rather than a separate card after the graphics card failed.

I've been using the same old PC and cheap chinese parallel break-out board since I built my forst 'proof-of-concept' machine out of scrap and the cheapest components I could buy and am still entirely happy with it. LinuxCNC is the only software I've ever used and have no desire to change if I can avoid it.

The risk with this approach is the lack of quick recovery from a computer failure. Not a problem for a pure hobbyist like me at present but for someone taking paid commissions the ability to grab any current motherboard, load the software, copy the .hal and .ini files (everyone DOES have a safe copy of those don't they?) and be confident of geting back in production is important. An external controller using a USB or Ethernet connection from the controlling computer is going to be a more reliable option in that regard.

Kit