[Pugman1]

I have absolutely no idea how you determined that Pathpilot is "very expensive". The software is actually free (public domain). To use it you need a Mesa card (5i25, 6i25 and 7i92) plus PP on a USB drive. From Tormach the total cost is us$185 or us$225 depending on your chosen Mesa card. It connects to your mill using your current parallel port cable. I assume that you mean VCarve Pro from Vectric rather than VCurve Pro. If so it is us$699 or £540 direct from Vectric so $600 is a bargain although I didn't know that Tormach sells it.

Pathpilot is the software that controls your machine (the same function but much better than Mach3). SpruceCAM is the software that generate the GCode (the same function as VCarve).

I find the information tormach give on some of their upgrades a bit short in detail. Ok I can buy a card to go in my pc with the pathpilot on a usb stick. But it’s still old technology using a printer cable from the dark age. Here in the uk old computers are failing and not worth buying. I was looking for and hoping to find information on getting the mill to run using more upto date tech. Please remember I am in the uk, so add 20% to all prices then add on handling charges and anything else they can think of. Makes it expensive