To usb,or not to usb,that is the question.

[m_c]

Personally I'd say USB, as parallel ports are gradually becoming rarer, and can be quite tempremental to setup.

I run a Smoothstepper, and would recommend it, however development does seem to be very sporadic. I stopped paying much attention to the Warp9 forums, but I do know Greg was looking to develop a network based Smoothstepper once he'd ironed out the remaining bugs in the existing SS.
There are other options, such as thr Dynomotion Kflop, but it all depends on how much money you're willing to spend, and what functionality you need.


Regardless of whether you go USB or not, I would suggest that you have a seperate computer for machine control, with just the essential software installed to minimise any issues you may have due to random bits of software causing problems.

[Jumbo]

Thanks,will go with two computers.What do you think of this http://www.zappautomation.co.uk/prod...roducts_id=197 I think i only need basic functionality for now,trying to keep to budget is tricky.

[Jonathan]

What do you think of this [URL]http://www.zappautomation.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=15&products_id=197[/URL

That or, if you fancy some soldering:
http://www.planet-cnc.com/

I would try parallel first and see how you get on. It doesn't have to cost you anything to try it and see.

I would quite like a smoothstepper, but I'm happy with how the machine runs as it is so I can wait.