What's the best operating system & software for CNC mill?

[Appalachiatools]

Hi all. I am going to replace the computer for the cnc mill I just purchased. It came with an older 466mhz running Mach3. I am open to all suggestions and would really appreciate your input. I am not married to windows OS and am open to all options. The computer I want to purchase will be dedicated to the mill. I have a 3 axis mill and plan to use it for machining aluminum and wood products. I am interested in some of the photo to gcode software out there and am curious of what software is out there and what OS software required. What are your preferences and why? Thanks!
--Rick

[bcromwell]

Personally I would upgrade the PC to a P4 2ghz+ and continue running mach3, There isn't must better software to be had for windows (That are step+direction) than mach3 in my opinion. If you aren't a fan of windows you could checkout EMC that runs on linux, I played with it a long time ago but a lot has changed with it so I can't say how good/compareable it is to mach3. Other than a 400mhz machine being a bit slow for mach3 what is your reason for wanting to get rid of it (mach3 that is)

[Appalachiatools]

Thanks for the reply. I'm just starting up a new machine. (completely new to cnc) and just wanted some opinions on software. I've watched the mach videos and it seems like excellent software. I've also talked to another fellow who was running easy cnc on DOS?
I'm replacing the computer because it is old and has a full copy of auto cad installed. I want to baby it to preserve auto cad as long as I can. I think I will partition off the new computer to run a couple of op systems and programs. The Mach3 software does seems fantastic! I'm just concerned about windows gliches and wonder if it is warranted? Steve & I kinda wish the world would have headed in the Mac direction...It's the only computer I own that I've never had to reformat or do anything to. Thanks!
--Rick

[davidmb]

Hi,

I have used EMC for a couple of years now and have recently upgraded to EMC version 2. It is available free from www.linuxcnc.com and is very flexible and easy to interface, many types of interface are supported and the support you get from the live forum is very good. It can be configured for anything from 1 axis upto 6 and understands about joint kinematics ( angular joints on machining head ) it can also run a hexapod machining platform.