Quote Originally Posted by samco View Post
How is this hijacking? And yes - it is a better option (less expensive, stable, opensource, flexable)
What's better is relative...

It's definitely cheaper (if that is the only reason you would buy a Windows machine for). As for stability... I haven't had stability issues since XP. Both Mach3 and UCCNC are stable on my computers ever since my first W7 Pro 64 bit installation. The BSD was gone after XP. Open source? Sure, but that doesn't really matter for the average user, does it? I mean, unless you want to make your own versions or want to fix bugs on your own... Flaxable? I think you mean flexible, but flexible in which way compared to the other alternatives? Yes, you can compile your own but again, that's not what an average CNC user want to do. Otherwise it seems to me that Mach3 is as flexible as necessary, and while UCCNC does not have all the features Mach3 has, I think it is better (for me) and is definitely flexible enough.

So, yes, Linux is better if you want to run it in an old PC with parallel port, but the advantages will not be that obvious if you have ambitions of using Ethernet motion controllers and have a half decent PC.