[strantor]

Then I imagine it should stack up OK against the Galil system versions, or close?
Al.

Not sure. I know little about Galil. My understanding is that it's more of a "professional" or "OEM"-oriented system. Not sure how to phrase that without making LinuxCNC sound like a hobbyist oriented system, which in many cases it is, but I believe it can be just as capable. It's my understanding that Galil is actually a self-contained/standalone motion controller which accepts G-code (from a computer or other source, computer not absolutely required) and generates paths from it, where LinuxCNC is a PC-based motion controller that needs more than just G-code. I suspect Galil is probably easier to set up but less customizable. I suppose Galil could be just as customizable from user interface perspective as you could write your own UI as long as it spits G-code out to the controller. LinuxCNC is as fast/powerful/real-time as the hardware you use to build it. I think it can match Galil with the right hardware. If you build LinuxCNC around steppers and a cheap hobbyist breakout board, then you're going to have a cheap hobby breakout board stepper machine no different than Mach3, other than being a bigger PITA to set up. I could be wrong about any of that and I'm happy to be corrected.