[nickjb]

I've just bought a new (used) CNC router. It currently doesn't work as bits of the controller are missing but hopefully that'll be rectified soon. Starting to think about software. I already have a small Chinese machine that I'll be selling on if/when the new one is up and running. I've been using mach3 and cambam (demo version) which have worked fine so could stick with that but my demo is soon to expire. As I haven't really used either enough to learn them and I need to do a load of setting up (machine settings, post processor, etc) maybe it makes sense to make a change now. Is mach3 still the go to? I understand it hasn't been updated much. What about free or cheap cam? I'll be working from dxf and something that'll do tool offsets and read layers would be good. Apologies if this has been asked many times, I did search but didn't really find much other than lists of software which, while useful, don't say what is good. Windows XP PC over parallel port, although I could upgrade to 7/10 or look at Linux if it is really worth it.

[ger21]

A lot of Mach3 users are switching to UCCNC. Cheaper, better, and well supported.

For CAD/CAM, Fusion 360.