Simpson, I could live with the shipping charge. It's not crazy out of line when you consider they're probably trying to recoup whatever it costs them to pack a box, label it, and so forth. There's usually more than just a UPS charge there is what I'm getting at.
After having been through a GRex and a Smoothstepper, I think the best answer on these boards is for Mach3 to publish a standard API for step generators. The problem always seems to be with software. If it could be written once, and reused across all the hardware, and if it didn't require custom plug-ins, then I think there would be more hope.
I have to believe the Mach developers are tired of writing new interfaces anyway. By now, there have been enough I would think they understand what's needed and could publish such an API. Then it would be up to the board members to follow the API. Maybe we could finally get one finished and well supported then.
Cheers,
BW