Connecting to a CNC machine, pros and cons of USB vs PP vs Ethernet etc.

[JAZZCNC]

It's less of a problem with a motion control board as that can hide smaller latency based sins but you really don't want to be a few hours into a milling job only for an intermittent computer problem to mess it up.

I did try a laptop, and the latency was fine...except for a very occasional (like once a day) SMI interrupt which put it it 'useless, even with a motion control board'. (You could also trigger it if you used any of the special laptop keys (like the screen brightness ones etc.,).

It's not a problem using a Laptop if you have a good motion control card using Ethernet. I've been running machines from Laptops for years running jobs that last 30+ hrs without stopping and they never fail or drop out. The Same can't be said for USB it's irratic and unpredictable. There's so many things that can affect it IMO it's not a good or suitable connection for reliable Motion control.