Smooth Steppers are finally available in UK !

[Ger21]

Just read through this, and wanted to point out some unfair comments.

The main advantage of LinuxCNC over Mach3 using a parallel port is it runs on a real time kernel. This ensures that the pulse output from the parallel port has priority over everything else on the computer, so you don't get the timing inaccuracies inherent to Mach3 from Windows interrupting. With LinuxCNC if the computer appears to 'freeze' the machine will still run happily, since it's prioritised over everything including the mouse/keyboard. No matter how much you disable things in Windows, remove programs or whatever fundamentally Mach3 is not real time so timing errors will exist.

99.9% of issues with Windows "interrupting" Mach3 are power saving features, which can easily be disabled in most cases. Often they can be disabled from the bios, and may not be Windows issues at all.

No matter how much you disable things in Windows, remove programs or whatever fundamentally Mach3 is not real time so timing errors will exist.

Mach3 actually controls Windows to a certain extent, to provide accurate timing. And because it's a buffered system, "real time" is not really an issue. Sure, it may prevent you from doing some things that Linux can do, but there are no timing errors as you claim.

'But I'm not a computer geek and it takes twenty thousand years to set up' I hear you cry! It really doesn't - the installation and setup process which apparently is such a huge barrier to many, is quicker, easier and more intuitive than windows/mach3. Owning a CNC machine makes you a geek to start with so it's too late for that anyway. In fact, the interface eliminates many human errors - I see countless problems from people setting the wrong value for steps/mm, whereas in linuxcnc, each pulley has its own textbox, meaning that you never have to do any fiddly arithmetic manually.

If you want to play that game, Mach3 will automatically set your steps/unit without entering anything but a measured distance. You don't even need to know what components your machine uses.

Another crucial disadvantage of Mach3, or rather windows is its inability to perform on low end computers - with some ebay sniping (gixen.com), it's possible to put together a low latency computer for less than £50, whereas with windows, if you want to get anywhere, you have to use a relatively expensive computer.

When Mach3 was originally developed (Mach3, not Mach1 or Mach2), 1.5Ghz PC's were state of the art. I run Mach3 on a $20 1Ghz PC with 512MB of RAM, and it runs great. I can buy PC's on Ebay all day long that will run Mach3 just fine for $50-$75. Including Windows XP

LinuxCNC also boasts superior stability. Windows is known for its tendency to crash for no good reason on mid to low end computers ...................................

Really??? Maybe if your running Windows 95. From Windows 2K on, Windows is extremely stable, and will usually only crash for two reasons. Faulty hardware (usually memory), or bad software (very rare). I haven't seen Windows crash in well over 10 years.

Look at what features come into play when a product is developed properly with the correct objective in mind - full support for helical arcs (allowing threadmilling).................................... ..............

MAch3 can do helical arcs and threadmilling too.

Mach3 runs on windows 2000 and windows XP. Both are in steady decline with windows vista, 7 and 8 being forced out by Microsoft.

Mach3 runs on Vista and Windows 7 as well as 2K and XP. It can't use the parallel port with Windows 8, though.

Ubuntu is made to be incredibly user friendly and simple (it's marketed at Apple users amongst others).

Apple users use whatever Apple feeds them. I can't see many apple users switching to Linux.