[evanevery]

I'm looking to purchase a new machine and one vendor I am communicating with tells me I will need THREE individual UC100 controllers if I wish to use Mach3, Mach4, and UCCNC. He says the Mach licenses (as well as the UCCNC license) are married to each UC100.

I already have a license for Mach3 and it was my understanding that its license (and also for Mach4) are unique to the PC running their software. (Not the motion controller). It would seem that Mach3/Mach4 would have to be pretty "intimate" with the UC100 in order to use it as part of their licensing strategy.

Is the vendor correct? Would I need three different UC100 controllers to run all three software packages on a single PC?

[ger21]

The vendor is wrong. You only need one UC100.

Mach3 licenses are not tied to anything. You can run as many copies as you want, with as many machines as you want, with whatever controller you want. Technically, this is for hobby use. If used in a commercial setting, you should buy one Mach3 license per machine.
Mach4 licenses are tied to the PC.
UCCNC licenses are tied to the UC100 (or any other CNC Drive controller)

I would highly recommend a UC400ETH rather than a UC100. It's only about $25 more, and offeres more I/O, and is more powerful, and has much better noise immunity.

[evanevery]

Thank you for confirming this!

I considered an ethernet based solution but it narrows my choices considerably. I'm looking to purchase a tabletop sized router/mill (6040,...) which I can run all three Motion Control Software packages. As it is, even with the popularity of UC100/Parallel port machines, I'm having a tough time finding one that is attractive to me. I think the possibilities will be reduced even further if I need to find a machine with a controller that can be hooked up to an ethernet controller. However, if you have any suggestions, I'm happy to entertain them!

[ger21]

Whatever you do, do not buy a machine with a Chinese controller.

[automationtechinc]

You can add a external Ethernet controller box

https://www.automationtechnologiesin...or-mach3-mach4

https://www.automationtechnologiesin...ine-cnc-router