Originally Posted by
Delorean14
Thanks, but um, what?
I'm gathering I should just buy Mach3...
Many of us started our first CNC builds with EMC2 to keep the software costs down. I did, because I have dabbled with Linux for many years. If you have no knowledge of, or interest in, free Linux based software then this path is not for you. EMC2 and Mach3 are similar in some respects and very different in other respects. These are the top two in popularity for "low to no cost" but there are a few others, like TurboCNC for DOS. Anything else will cost $1,000 and much higher. Many people still use EMC2 as a personal choice, and they have good reasons to do that.
Many of us eventually moved to Mach3 for the features it has and the way it can be customized. In case you don't know, LazyCam is provided with Mach3 in the free beta and in the licensed version and is a gcode generator. It is no longer updated and there is no active support from ArtSoft for it. I used CamBam beta for gcode generation instead, after having stability problems with LazyCam. Gcode that is developed in a Windows application will run in EMC2.
There are enough free software options to get your machine running and do some useful projects with it but eventually you will want better software, and most of it will need to run on Windows. As far as I know there is not much available for OSX but I think that may be changing a little at a time.
CarveOne
CarveOne
http://www.carveonecncwoodcraft.com