I too don't want to discourage. First problem I see is lack of machine feedback. i.e. it's nice to see the cutterpath on the screen as the machine is doing it's thing for a visual comfort level and awareness. So to include that makes the task grow. Ultimately a PC has all the bells and whistles that a machine controller needs. I suspect the effort is better spent in delving into shutting down windows services to just bare essentials.
On the open source side, if anything I would advocate the creation of a data stream protocol defining syncronization of hardware with a basic command set that could utilize USB, firewire, tcpip.....
Or could be an embedded G-code state machine spewing out parallel port information on the other side to be compatable with existing hardware.
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Phil, Still too many interests, too many projects, and not enough time!!!!!!!!
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