I'm running Mach 3 with one of Jeff Birt's Soigeneris STDR-4C drive control boxes. I've run it all with a couple 5 to 7 year old Dell XP 'puters. Any trouble I've ever had with the system failing has been tracked to the XP 'puter... bad USB ports, bad USB card, or a bad video card, yesterday's problem was just a loose USB cable, WHEW!

It got me to thinking maybe I should build a new machine, and am wondering which is better, switching to Windows 7, or reusing XP.

Is it tricky to set up Windows 7 to run Mach 3? I'm not as tech-savvy as I probably should be.

I'm thinking, to save money, I could use my old Dell XP case, power supply, and optical drive. Is this reasonable? I do have a buddy that has built many systems for himself, and he's willing to help out.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Chris

Speaking from a computer builder standpoint and having very little knowledge of Mach 3, you can re-use your old parts but you will have some adapting to do. The Dell case will have proprietary type plugs coming from the case. A new MB, unless a direct replacement, will have different pin configurations. This won't be a deal-killer but you will likely have to cut and splice wiring. A new case can be bought for under $100 and won't have the proprietary type plugs.

As far as XP or 7, I like 7 much better. XP was good, Vista was horrible, but 7 is excellent. I can't speak for how it interacts with Mach 3 though. From what I have read you will need to stay with a 32-bit OS unless using an 'adapter box' (can't think of what it is called right now). 

Chris,
I believe that W7 provides for running different operating system via boot up. So your hard drive will need to be partitioned and thus you can
boot W7 or XP. That gives you the best of two worlds.
RICH

Dual booting is possible with most all Windows OS's. I have had XP and Linux installed on the same computer, as well as Windows 7 and Linux. I think what you are referring to is called XP Mode. XP mode is available with Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate. This is accomplished via virtualization. I am not sure if this would do what you want. I have Windows 7 Pro on one laptop and Windows 7 Ultimate on this one. Both are 64-bit OS's. I have tried running Mach 3 in a virtual environment using XP Mode and Sun VirtualBox. The virtual XP machines were 32-bit. Neither one ran Mach 3.

I didn't think about the Dell having proprietary plugs and mounting holes and all that jazz. I don't want to rewire anything... that just gives the system more possible failure points. I'm shooting for stability and reliablilty.

I'm not set on running Windows 7, I'm just wondering if there's a particular reason should. It'd be $150 to $250 cheaper to get it running if I didn't need to buy a new OS. If there is a reason to run W7, what is it? What version? Home? Home Premium? Pro? All it will be doing is running Mach 3.

Thanks!
Chris

I'm not positive about this but if you are planning to use the license key that is on the COA sticker on your case, I think that is tied to that PC. If you try to enter that product key it will return an error. I could be wrong though. I think replacing the Dell motherboard in that Dell tower will also void that license. If it is an aftermarket license then you can transfer it.

If you are building it solely for the purpose of running Mach 3 then I would run whatever will be cheapest that will work. I am very new to Mach 3 so I can't say for sure what that would be. I have built a few using a mix-matched case and tower. It isn't that difficult if you are comfortable messing with motherboards and wires.

Your best bet might be to purchase a low cost PC from a big box store. You can also check tigerdirect.com or newegg.com. They have pretty good deals sometimes. I bought a refurbished desktop PC from tigerdirect a few years abo for 50% off and still had the factory warranty. Sorry I don't have a more simple solution for you.

I'm running Mach 3 with one of Jeff Birt's Soigeneris STDR-4C drive control boxes. I've run it all with a couple 5 to 7 year old Dell XP 'puters. Any trouble I've ever had with the system failing has been tracked to the XP 'puter... bad USB ports, bad USB card, or a bad video card, yesterday's problem was just a loose USB cable, WHEW!

It got me to thinking maybe I should build a new machine, and am wondering which is better, switching to Windows 7, or reusing XP.

Is it tricky to set up Windows 7 to run Mach 3? I'm not as tech-savvy as I probably should be.

Hi Chris I recently had the power supply fail in my 5yr old mach3 computer so had it replaced and decided  to switch to win 7 I just used a copy of my xml file in a new install of mach3 and had no problems.