I have searched high and low on the forums for this answer and cannot find one.

I currently have an old Windows XP desktop computer with a parallel cable going into my MP3000 then a parallel cable going into a box that contains my gecko drive cards. Everything is working as it ought.

What I would like to do, or at least try to do, is have a computer back up. I have a windows 11 laptop that I would like to use as a dedicated CNC computer running Mach3 alone. The problem is that I only have USB ports on my laptop. I have Mach3 loaded and thought that a usb to lpt adapter cable would work, and as I have found on this forum, it will not. So what suggestion might anyone have? The CNC world is really quite amazing.

Hi,
Machs parallel port will run on 32bit machines of Windows 7 vintage or earlier, XP for instance......it will not run on Windows 8 or 10 or 11.

Mach3, the application will run fine, but not the parallel port driver. If you wish to use Windows 11 you will need an external motion controller like an
Ethernet SmoothStepper or a UC100. By the way don't buy one of the Chinese fake UC100's, buy genuine or don't bother.

Craig

The CNC Drive UC100 is a USB to Parallel Port controller which would do the job. http://cncdrive.com/UC100.html

From personal experience I would recommend the UC100. Make sure you get a genuine one.

Hi,
only a few shortcoming of the UC100.

First is has a max pulse speed of 100khz, usually enough for steppers but not really enough for high resolution servos.
The UC100 has the equivalent of one parallel port output, ie 17IO's only. OK for the most basic of machines but you need more IO for anything bigger
and better. The ESS has 51 IO's, and the UC300, the bigger brother of the UC100 from the same company has 85 IO's.
USB is more prone to electrical noise interference than Ethernet. I would not recommend the UC100 for a plasma table which are always noise prone.

Craig

But given the OP's spec it may be perfectly suitable.  As long as he only needs a single parallel port as in his current setup that's what the UC100 gives.  And in my experience the config that's already set up will seamlessly transfer to the UC100 though a few small adjustments might be needed.

Hi,

But given the OP's spec it may be perfectly suitable.

Quite agree. If however there is the possibility of future expansion and upgrades he could run into the UC100's limitations very quickly. Make no mistake I have nothing
against a genuine UC100, but it would be hopelessly outclassed on my machine. I require nine inputs for Limits and Homes for example. The servos require a pulse stream
of 416kHz to achieve full speed and my C axis requires 466kHz to achieve full speed. The UC100 would just not cut it.

Craig

Hello All,
I decided to get a Windows 7 32 bit dell tower with a parallel port on the motherboard. It is similar to the windows xp machine I am trying to replace.

I know the address of the com and the port and PIN numbers. I used the profile from the XP machine that is running my CNC servo motors just fine. The Windows 7 machine will not move a motor. Any help would be appreciated. I will do my best to ask any questions as well.

To the best of my knowledge the MP3000 was only compatable with Win2000 & WinXP.  Vista was definately not supported so there is a good chance that Win7 is the same.

Did your CandCNC install program run sucessfully with your new Win7 computer?

Tweakie.

Hey Tweakie,
What do you mean by CandCNC install program? I am trying to run Mach3 to run my CNC. Now I believe I am missing something.