Extreme newbie here, other than college and a 3D printer, never messed with any CNC equipment.

Picked up a CNC Tensilathe that just makes tensile test specimen. It has a Galil DMC-1020 card running tensilathe user interface/software.
While I can load a dxf of any shape and cut it fine, I'd like to be able to cut threads and have better jog controls.

I've read that I could use Mach 3 as it supports the galil cards but I didn't see that it supported the 10x0 legacy cards though. I've seen camsoft but the price tag is a bit steep for me, at least while I'm starting out. What other options do I have for software?

I would like to cut threads with the machine and am not 100% on this but I think it needs some kind of indexing on the spindle. I've looked around for solutions to add an index pulse that will work with the tensilathe software or an aftermarket software. So far I've found plenty of options for the index pulse mechanisms, too many actually. Can someone point me to a good source for setting this up? Doesn't have to be "buy this, screw in here, type this", a general "you'll need this type of index(er?), you can install it on this input, it needs this type of software setup".

Probably many more questions to come so thank you for your patience and help!