[crane550]

the reason im asking is because we have a new 3 axis usb board from taiwan. they wrote mach 3 drivers for it and thus far, reliability seems a non issue (parallel port are NOT reliable in any way in my experience). so it may not be out of the question to ask them to write emc2 drivers that work with the raspberry (and other emc setups) if there isnt a fundamental road block. someone opinion that usb sucks for cnc isnt a roadblock to me.

its a tiny board, not much bigger than the raspberry, and the 2 combined would make a seriously awesome all in one mini controller for well under $500.

My thoughts exactly, as far as an affordable controller.

The more I look into it, the more I think that the ethernet route is probably the better way to go, as it seems that there is a much better consensus that it is a more reliable interface. On top of that, it would seem that it would be much easier to implement on the basis that it uses standard IEEE protocol to talk with the smoothstepper board. I'm not saying the USB is a lost cause, but since things are heading towards the ethernet direction anyways that might be the better way to go.

Just my .02cents. I don't have the programming finesse to do this on my own. I am simply offering ideas.