Thanks for the posts. I believe I will have a go at the EMC2 software. I will be buying a dedicated pc box for my cnc and will install the ubuntu+EMC2 that comes 'ready to roll' - but I am sure I will still have to configure some things!
I intend to get it up and running and use some gcode downloaded from various sites to test it all out before I start creating my own.

I guess if it doesn't work after playing around with it I can then look at the usbcnc stuff.

On another note, are there many people here that use EMC2 or will I be entering a lonely world?

Cheers

ice.