Thanks for the link Bruce. I'll look closely at your build. I'm not against USING Linux. But I beat my head against the wall for months (maybe 12 years ago) on Fadora Core 3 and 4 for a Raid 5 file server......for fun. It wasn't fun for me at all. I got it done with a little help from a friend. I would assume things have come a long way since then, but it left a real bad taste in my mouth. If it's semi plug and play, I'm game.

I re imaged one of our Tormach control computers when a hard drive crashed. If its as easy as that, I'm totally on board. I really like Path Pilot so far.

I loaded PathPilot from an image, made some changes and it worked. If you are looking at going down that path Pathpilot needs to be fooled into using a parallel port, it is all documented now on the linuxcnc forum https://forum.linuxcnc.org/pathpilot

I personally am attempting to get PathPilot running on LCNC 2.7 under Linux Mint 64. Currently Tormach runs a modified Linuxcnc 2.6 under Ubuntu 10.04 32 bit.

Pathpilot is a LinuxCNC derivative; I've always used LinuxCNC with parallel ports, and it works well. As Metalhead points out, there are good parallel port cards available - I have 3 stockpiled. I can't speak for Mach3, but LinuxCNC is sensitive to the latency at which the computer can consistently react, and perversely, newer faster computers can have higher parallel port latency than older ones. That appears to be because the legacy devices get further and further from the processor core with each generation of technology layered on. This can limit your maximum pulse count, and thus speed. Just something to watch out for, I'd still recommend it as a solution if you're comfortable with it.

I'm likely not going down the Linux road unless I can find a nice freshly paved one. But, I'm open to looking at possibilities.

I don't see a way to purchase PathPilot on their site currently. I just bought a bunch of toolholders from them and see that you need to verify ownership prior to shipment of software.

Well it's pretty straightforward these days: http://linuxcnc.org/docs/2.7/html/ge...-linuxcnc.html Download the image, write it to a usb flash drive, boot it up in live mode. Choose one of the gantry mill configurations, and you'll be awfully close. If it doesn't work out, shutdown the computer, remove the drive, and you're ready to boot back to the original OS. If it does, then go ahead and follow the install procedure, and tweak the configuration to the details of your machine.

A very long day at work today capped off with a pretty heavy box propped up against the garage door, just out of the snow.

Cut and bent parts are HERE.

A word about the parts: Amazing. I unpacked the VERY well packed box and got all the shrink wrap off. The steel is so clean I didn't have to wash my hands afterward.

Thanks Mike. I haven't started assembling but anyone nervous about the quality? Looks top notch to me. The parts are even laser engraved with part numbers.

And, just for my own amusement?

My very first subassembly is complete.

http://i1156.photobucket.com/albums/...psv4xwf8sf.jpg

Low hanging fruit for sure, but a start that's been a long time coming.

Start at the bottom and work up:D