I have recently bought a new machine:

50x50
3 axis servo motors/geckodrive
G320 servo controller
Fully enclosed control box and prewired for Parallel Interface
200 watts power supply. 24VDC unregulated (~30V) 8 Amps.

I was given a copy of Zeus for the controlling software. It seems that running in dos and the configuring/setup is just getting to hard. Jog and homing the head seems to lose its setting, I have talked with the guy I bought it from and said he will try to setup another table to try and re-config the parameters and let me know the results, he's been really cool helping me out but/or maybe I'm missing something?

My question, is that should I get mach2 that runs in Windows XP? will this be easier? is setting it up easier? has anyone run into problems with setting up parameters? :drowning:

Thanks,
pierre-fattuna

My question, is that should I get mach2 that runs in Windows XP? will this be easier? is setting it up easier? has anyone run into problems with setting up parameters?
First - get a copy of the demo version of MACH2. Its a bit limited - but should get you started.
Second - download the MACH2 manual and print out the set up section at least - thats Chapter 5 as I recall. Make sure you read all the set up section. Many of the problems I had were solved by a bit of careful reading! For example - in motor tuning (the setup) Velocity for the motors is in units per SECOND. A few things were not intuitive (at least to me) - but then the manual is very good -- and the developer was quick with an answer when I needed it too. I bet you'll wind up spending the $150 to get the full setup.

BTW - there are more than a few MACH2 on the site here that can give you a bit of help too I bet!
:cheers: - Jim

I will second Jims recomendation about using Mach2.
If you dont like parting with bucks for software, then make an exception here.
You wont go wrong.
The other advantage with using a non DOS program is easy navigation to load your tool paths etc.
Bite the bullet and open the purse. :)

OK...upon the advice, I downloaded the demo version and will try this on my cnc/plasma and let everyone know the status.

Again thanks, :cheers:
pierre-fattunadesigns