hey pete. i think the prefered choice is to use old printer/scanner stepper motors. connecting them to a driver and connecting them to a computers parallel port. here a good beginners tut that i am using as i have just started my CNC machine
http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy..._a_Recycled_M/. i have to add this is just for connecting 1 stepper motor to a computer. here
http://www.instructables.com/id/Recy...ller-Followup/ is a site that shows you how to make a driver for 3 stepper motors. the second sites easy to follow providing you read and understand the first one. hope this helps a little. as i said i'm only a beginner as well but found these2 sites the best and easy to understand.