Guys, I am not a computer expert and I am really struggling with this,
I had a 32bit dell machine which worked fine with mach3 and my gecko g540, I say `worked` as the dear old thing(12y/o) is no more.
I decided it was time to make the move to 64bit, windows 10 & mach4, as support for 7/8 ends shortly and my machine is on`tinternet and I figured the learning needed, will see me through beyond retirement.
I did some reading up on the parellel port and plugins, smooth steppers and uc100s and I now wished I hadn`t bothered as there is so much confusing and conflicting info on this subject that my head is spinning.
So if some kind soul would just TELL me what I need, I`ll be able to get my router table up and running again.
Thanks in advance.

Hi,
if you stick with 32bit Windows7 or earlier you could use Mach4s parallel port called Darwin ($25 licenec fee applies). It works OK
but is limited in realtime supports like threading and THC.

To get the best out of Mach4 you need an external motion controller. You have mentioned two already. With an external motion
controller you can use a 64bit OS like Windows10.

Not all Mach4 ready controllers are the same....some have more realtime supports than others. At the current time the
Ethernet SmoothStepper by Warp9 has the most complete set of realtime supports including threading, spindle PID,backlash comp,
realtime THC, laser rastering plus all the usual homing/limits supports that you would expect.

May I suggest you look at:
Ethernet SmoothStepper by Warp9
UC300 by CNCDrive
57CNC by PoKeys
PMDX-424 by PMDX
Hicon Integra by Vital Systems ($600 entry level)
CSMIO/S by CSLabs (600 Euro entry level)

Note the UC100, PMDX-411 and 57CNCdb25 are all 'one port' devices and have strictly limited inputs. They are cheaper than their
bigger siblings but you'll miss the extra IO. If you do want a UC100 DON'T buy a Chinese rip-off from EBay or Amazon, they are
NOT the real thing. Buy direct from CNCDrive or their nominated distributor.

Craig