New on here. I have an engraver built by Cipher(Western Australia)and the PC with the software has died taking and with it the upgrade to WinXP. This is a year 2000 machine and they no longer exist. Will mach3 work with Powermax11 steppers is my first question. Secondly I beleive I will need to get drives to go in between. Is this correct. Any help or advice appreciated. Thanks

Hi,
if you are building a new control system then you'd best go to Mach4. All development on Mach3 ceased seven years ago.

In the early days of hobby CNC a parallel port output was common despite its speed and reliability issues, and you could persue that option
if you wish. It would require Mach3, a 32bit desktop PC with Windows 7 or XP SP3, and a parallel printer port, which are becoming rare.

A better bet is to get an external motion controller like an Ethernet SmoothStepper ($190USD) or a UC300 ($160USD), a breakout board
or two and then you can use any PC you want including laptops, 32 or 64 bit, and up to Windows 11.

Would you post some pictures of the steppers and other hardware? Are you in Aussie? If so Homann Designs in Melbourne is pretty much
a one stop shop.

Craig

Than you Craig, I will go down the road you suggest with Mach 4. Thanks for your help