I did some similar research.? Not because I lost my license as it's normally in use on a CNC router, not a milling machine, but just for interest sake. ??I created a dual boot PC with WIN-XP and LinuxCNC and the first crack ran from the parallel port for both into a PMDX-126.

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Since then I've expanded the interface to deal with Servos and fault signals and that added issues that MACH3 doesn't deal as well with since I also use the Charge Pump.? I need to toggle the OFFLINE button to get out of some fault conditions.

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Since then I've switched over to using the MESA 7i92H Ethernet to dual parallel port and borrow the USB Smooth Stepper from the CNC router to get the higher stepping speeds not possible with the parallel port version.

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What MACH3 (and I imagine MACH4) gives you are the wizards which are very very useful.? There are Linux command line programs available from various sources that will do what the wizards do but not with the flare.?

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I've been creating some easier to use dialog based applications, compared to command line, to do what the wizards do.? They are written in Lazarus Free Pascal and so run on Pi4 with LinuxCNC, BeagleBone with MachineKit, PC with LinuxCNC and WIN-XP/7/10.

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I think LinuxCNC has a steeper learning curve than MACH3 although the support group is very helpful.? Certainly compared to selecting and configuring I/O it can be scary if you shift away from the norm compared to MACH3.? But there are some good dialog apps that take you through the entire configuration process and create the .ini and .hal text files that describe the environment.

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I'm sure the next question would be which do I like better?? I don't know yet.? To get a true comparison I'd now have to get an Ethernet Smooth Stepper and it was way more expensive compared to the MESA.? It's a pain to move the USB SS back and forth from the CNC router and my MACH3 license is really just in use for the one machine.

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John

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