Replace outdated oem software

[Hopefulbull]

I just wanted to get some opinions. I have a few diffent cnc routers in my shop. The software and drive controllers are no longer supported by the OEM. I have vendors who can do repair work on the amps, drives and motors. What I was think about is upgrading the pc that drives the motion to something with an open source software. What's would be the pros and cons in this?

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[rcheli]

I can't really list pros and cons as I am not familiar with older OEM controls you should take a look at LinuxCNC. It's free, runs on very inexpensive PCs and will run any machine you can think of. There is also very active and excellent support one the LinixCNC forum. See https://www.linuxcnc.org/

[rodw]

+1 for linuxcnc and also for some mesa cards for basically unlimited IO plus servo control.. Look through their forum at some of the retrofits done.

[ger21]

What specific machines do you have? If they are old big Italian routers, they may use custom g-codes to control certain functions, and you may lose some functionality.

[rodw]

What specific machines do you have? If they are old big Italian routers, they may use custom g-codes to control certain functions, and you may lose some functionality.

There will be workarounds with Linuxcnc but the gcode command may need to change... You should not loose functionality if you put the effort in to ensure all functionality is retained...