Thanks for the input, I thought I was in for a real problem, but after examination I found that it was fitted with Conquerer driver boards and contacted Eaziform to see if the driver boards would be ok with parallel port Mach3, Alex Mackinnon asked if it had a Conquerer
input board and if so why not connect it to a serial port and run Eazicnc !
Did that and it works!! and the electronics were updated after 2005 so it's no longer an update job, though I still have to get the mist coolant working, calibrate the spindle speed and make your tool holder.
Don't know if it's capable of screw cutting so I still have a learning curve on g-code and software.
Alex at Eaziform has been amazingly helpful and a pleasure to deal with especially I was not and original purchaser of their gear.
The solidity is relative, my main machine is a 17x36 DSG (2 tons) but the Conect struck me as heavier than some of the 65mm centre height machines.