So I recently got my second CNC machine for my small business. The first machine was a DIY kit, and (obviously) I used EMC on Ubuntu. Got the CD, installed it on my old PC went through the stepconf wizard, and it ran! Since then have created lots of Gcode and products.
I said obviously, because being new at CNC, and an open source fan I did not want to spend a lot of up front money. So I use Inkscape (with a Gcode generator extension) for CAD and EMC for machine control. All open source and LOVE the flow I created. Created my own coding standards, and even though Gcode is quite arcane, it is very powerful and EMC's support for it is EXCELLENT. I use parameters, subroutines, conditionals, repeats, etc, so everything I make can easily be scaled, positioned, replicated, all from the Gcode file. Actually, don't know about Mach 3, but the control software that came with my new machine, WinPCNC, even though it said it supported Gcode, could not run my Gcode. Actually their support for Gcode is minimal. For me this meant to get EMC to work with my new machine (relatively easy and straightforward once you have all the parameters of the controller), in order to be able to run everything as I was used to. So I have NO issues with LinuxCNC. On the contrary I am quite happy with it. Granted I do not do very complicated things, only three axis, but I love the way it works, and LOve AXIS as well. That it only runs on Linux is NO problem. Actually it is STABLE ,and I have not experienced a single crash. I appreciate that! Rindert Schutten Designer/Owner SchuttenWorks -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Find us on the Web at http://schuttenworks.com Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/schuttenworks --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ October Webinars: Code for Performance Free Intel webinars can help you accelerate application performance. Explore tips for MPI, OpenMP, advanced profiling, and more. Get the most from the latest Intel processors and coprocessors. See abstracts and register > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=60134071&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users