Good day folks
i am in the process of putting together a plasma table for a friend of mine. i have a few criteria i need to fill.

-somewhat inexpensive, i am hoping to put the brain together around 500$
-the desire to have quality torch height control
-fairly user friendly
-it's an everlast plasma and has a CNC plug in the back.

so far, i think the biggest decision i have to make for him is the software.

i know mach3, i look at mach4 and find it quite straightforward.
for what i read, LINUXCNC seem to have better options as long as software integrated torch height control functionality.

what's the best software to have today ?

as for the brain,
my mini-mill, has a parallel port stripped and hooked up direct to my 3 G203V.
it's safe to assume there will be a need for opto-isolation, is there a breakout board out there that would allow me the good old parallel port connection while offering adequate protection ?
would it be possible to have signal input for software controlled torch height control ? how is that done ?

are the standalone torch height controller worth it ?
i did some research on few of those and found one that some have a quite slow response, and might not have adequate anti-dive capabilities. was i reading lies ?



thanks for your time