[Gads]

Hi I have a million questions but the first is comparing mach3 to emc
I have a working system with mach3, geckos, campbell board and
xp on I believe a 4-600mhz pc with 256 ram.

I am very pleased with it's ability but trying to decide wether or not
to pay the 160$ to open up mach3 trial restrictions or to try linux/emc
any opinions would be great.

also have an old laptop 486/75 8meg 256hd, would linux/emc work on
something this old.

I do ok with dos/win etc but have 0 experience with linux. where would
I start. I had downloaded a BDI and put on CD but see no EXE install/setup
info.

I would like to keep my mach setup and OS, can I setup a duelboot?

Thanks

[dewme5]

have you downloaded EMC yet? you can run it right off of the disk without installing to the hard drive, so feel free to give it a try. If you've become used to Mach3, it's probably best to shell out the money and stay that route. I personally like EMC, and enjoy Linux. Considering it's free, its worth looking at before you pay for Mach.

There are versions of linux that will run on that 486, but not EMC. look into puppy linux, or tinyme.

[cbcnc]

Hi Gads,

If you look down this forum a little ways there is a topic called "What to expect from a PIII 650 mhz". I just got linux installed on my PC and am now setting up EMC to run my machine.
First, the BDI disc is probably not the one to start with for your install. It's alright if you just want to check it out using the Live CD. But, it has an older version of EMC on it.
The newest version has Ubuntu 6.06 and EMC 2.2.2on a Live CD. You can find it here:
http://www.linuxcnc.org/
There's really two phases to getting it installed; getting Ubuntu running on your PC and then getting EMC setup.
A helpful thing would be to subscribe to the EMC-users mailing list. That can be accessed through the above site also.
Write back to keep us posted as to your progress and any questions. There seems to be a lot of very helpful people around.

Good Luck,
Chris

[osphoto]

I'm using EMC. I've found it simple to use based on the interface.

I've looked at Mach. The screen clutter blew me away in comparison to EMC. Personal preference to me. To much happening for this newb.

I'm a Unix/Linux fan because it works. I don't have to worry about bozo's messing with the OS in terms of me having to put virus protection and such on the OS.

I feel much safer with my Linux box on the network then my windows machine. And I can access my box via the internet from my office.

If you've got the time, go for EMC. You've nothing to loose other then time spent learning another product.

If you got the money to spend, save yourself the time, spend the money and get back to designing and cutting! :-)

My design platform is separate from my cutting machine. So, I opt'd to save my money via not having to pay for another OS (windows) and another machine software package (Mach). Instead I took the money and upgraded my CAM package!

[Big John T]

Nothing against Mach but I would not attempt to run a real time anything on windozs.

John