Best Pc Operating System to run CNC designs.

[SpeedsCustom]

Hello Everyone,

I'm in the process of setting up my CNC machine. A Taig CNC Bench-top machine, I recently obtained a computer (actually a few in the process) for running my machine. The machine I have is a Windows M.E. Operating system, is it wise to upgrade to XP or stick with M.E. this computer is only intended for Running the Machine and Design. Mach3, MeshCam, Pro-Eng etc...



-Jason

[DSL PWR]

ME is very unstable, I'd go with xp.

[SpeedsCustom]

Really, ok...thats makes it easy for me now. Thank you,

-Jason

[Tashammer]

Windows ME = Ford Edsel or Leyland P76 (it promised a lot but gave...rust).

It's not a very good OS at all.

[Lexx0001]

I agree with XP, it's quite stable. I've not had any lock-ups or other strange occurrances for a long time.

Having said that, I'm going to try EMC on Ubuntu, just to see how that works out.

[mlogical]

DO NOT upgrade the OS. Do a fresh install (format the hd with ntfs) of XP IF the drivers for the various components in the computer are available for XP. In my experience, an upgrade from ME has a slow decay to inoperability over a period of time. Even MS recommended only 2000 Pro to XP Pro as a viable upgrade path.

[Switcher]

"Windows ME" (Millennium Edition) is actually Windows 98, all dressed up, Microsoft did that to get folks to upgrade the OS.

Stay with XP.

.

[Lemo]

Besides the OS also consider that at least MAch3 has additional hardware requirements. Intel P4 with more then 1GHz for example. All garbage I own(ed) running ME was P3... and worse... and had to go into the bin...
Lemo

[juzwuz]

I've got Ubuntu / EMC2 running on an old surplus P3 1GHz machine driving my CNC Taig mill. However, all my CAD/CAM stuff is done on a Windows XP machine.

[lovebugjunkie]

I agree with the others, XP is the way to go. I have a PC running XP Pro (AMD 64 3700) running for a year + going 24 hrs a day. If it was not looking for little green men (and women) it was running the game “Americas Army”, playing music, messing with photos and playing with a lot of demo cnc software I never once had it restart/halt due to a OS problem. (had software that errored out but the OS never rolled on me)

Just make sure you load service pack 2 and all the updates on the MS site. Last I checked there were around 100 of them.

[SpeedsCustom]

Ok, reason I ask is because I have access to downloads and I can download Windows XP, Windows 2000 etc as a student of NJIT. Secondly, the computer I got, I picked it up for FREE yesterday, My neighbor was throwing it out and actually spoke to me, He wiped out the HD and it includes the CD for recovery and everything. I can't believe I picked it up for Free though. It's Pentium III but with maybe a few little tweaks I can run my machine on it.


I guess I won't be able to run PRo/Eng or MeshCam they seem too big and unsuitable for the this computer.

-Jason

[ger21]

Mach3 will NOT run on ME. So you'lll need XP or Win2K. If it's a slow machine without a lot of RAM, Win2K might be a better choice. As for ProE and MeshCAM, but like a lot of RAM.