[phil m]

Hey guys, running G540 system through a 10 year old PC with Win XP. The desktop just died. I need to have this fixed asap to do some work with the CNC. Problem I'm having is there seems to be zero pc's out there anymore with a parallel printer port on it. Is there a way of using another port with the G540 now? (I haven't kept up to date with the hardware side of cnc's since I built mine in 2010).

What's my easiest solution for getting back up to speed with my machine?

[LeeWay]

They are still available.
Dell Optiplex 760 Desktop PC - Intel Core 2 Duo 3GHz, 4GB DDR2, 160GB SATA HDD, DVD-ROM, 8x USB 2.0, GigE, Win 10 Pro 64-bit, Refurbished - PC1-0850 at TigerDirect.com

You can also find a refurb and install an add in PP card.
Some older IBM laptops are on Ebay as well and they can come with a docking station. Those have PP cards in them too.
Then you can buy an Ethernet smooth stepper and virtually any PC with a network card can run with it.

[john-100]

some PC's don't have the 25 way D-type socket ( parallel printer port connector ) on the mother board but can have one added

Attachment 375760

H110M-R PDF manual
Attachment 375762

DB25 Female to IDC26 Female Header Slot Plate Adapter to connect to mother boards with the 26 pin header
Attachment 375764

the latest second hand PC I have which is about 18 months old has a ASUS H110M-R

motherboard that has a 26 pin header that a 25 way D-type socket can be connected to

at the moment I have XP & Mach 3 on an old IBM desktop


John

[ger21]

You can also add a USB or ethenet motion controller, which removes the parallel port restriction, and also lets you use a modern, 64 bit OS..
The UC100 is one of the best, and cheapest, options. Don't buy one from Ebay, though, where there are many counterfeit versions.

[phil m]

Thanks for the replies guys, I ended up buying a cheap used PC and reloading the software, I also bought a UC100 to try to get away from XP and old pc's soon.

[steve323]

Thanks for the heads up that I should probably make a backup of all the files on my old XP system. I don't want to have to buy new licences to all the software.

Steve