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UC100 and mach4 question
« on: December 19, 2018, 10:31:08 PM »
Search function fix would be awesome, makes me hesitant to go with Mach if I have a problem....

Anyways, I have a UC100 coming.  I can't get the parallel port to work with my new CNC.  I have yet to purchase Mach 3 or 4 yet. 

If I went with Mach4 do I need the parallel plugin?

For a hobby CNC router is there any advantage to 4 over 3 for my use.  I probably would go with 4 if I don't need the plugin.

Thanks in advance.

Offline ger21

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Re: UC100 and mach4 question
« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2018, 11:27:25 PM »
You don't need the parallel plugin, just the UC100 plugin.
Gerry

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Re: UC100 and mach4 question
« Reply #2 on: December 20, 2018, 02:01:59 AM »
Hi,

Quote
For a hobby CNC router is there any advantage to 4 over 3 for my use

Not really, both Mach3 and Mach4 run Gcode it almost identical fashion. The real advantage of Mach4 is its ability to be customized due
in part to the new scripting language, Lua, and in part due to Mach4s modular structure. Given that for most simple hobby mills and/or
routers you don't need any custom code then Mach4 has no real advantage.

All development ceased on Mach3 five years ago, and so what problems/bugs it has it will always have because no-one is trying to fix them.
In recent times some updates to Windows by Microsoft caused Mach3 to go cranky. There has been a patch for that but one day something may come
along which makes Mach3 unusable. Note there is no upgrade path....if you have a Mach3 licence that does not entitle you to a cheap Mach4 licence.

Mach4 is still developing.....in the last year or so there has been a PMC (ladder logic) module, a Touch off module, a Zero-Brane Editor and chaoticone
has let the cat out of the bag....a new THC module on the way.

I personally think the on-going development of Mach4, both the software by NFS and the increasingly fully featured hardware by the likes of Vital Systems,
Warp9, PMDX and CNCDrive make Mach4 the only choice.

Craig

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Re: UC100 and mach4 question
« Reply #3 on: December 20, 2018, 07:15:08 AM »
Thanks.  For $25, i'll go mach 4 then.