Mach3 vs Mach4

[Web Goblin]

You could also download Eding cnc and give that a try as well before you decide.

[birchy]

You could also download Eding cnc and give that a try as well before you decide.

Not heard of that before. Is this the right page? Eding CNC - PC based CNC control

Do you have to use the Eding controller or can you just use the free software?

[Saracen]

Thanks all.

I guess I could comfortably wear the Geek hat, as I've run FreeBSD based mail, web and DNS servers for around 10 years.

> 6-12 months away

Interesting. Definitely not going to wait that long for it to arrive, and staying away from a .0 release is always good advice

I already have the PC and Windows XP, so there's no cost involved there.

Guess I'll try both once the G540 arrives and see which one breaks less bits

Adrian.

[birchy]

I guess I could comfortably wear the Geek hat, as I've run FreeBSD based mail, web and DNS servers

LinuxCNC would be the natural choice, then. It can be a bit finicky with PC hardware as, unlike Mach, it uses a realtime kernel for smoother control. Best thing to do is run the Live CD (no need to install) and run the Jitter test to see where your PC stands. Wifi cards and on-board graphics seem to be the worst culprits for poor response times. If you have neither of those, then you'll probably be good to go "straight out of the box".