I am running a Joe’s evolution machine, with the 23 kit from avid cnc. looking to upgrade to a more modern computer. What do I need to change, and what are my options. I tried the “adapter” when I built the machine, and it just didn’t work, so I went back to a 32 bit XP professional machine, but it is getting tired and I would like to upgrade it, as I will be going through the rest of the build (bearings, etc.) after the first of the year.
Thanks
John Lindsay
John, most any machine of recent vintage running Windows 10 or 11 should be adequate. You should consider moving to Mach4 and an Ethernet-based smoothstepper, as they are capable of low-jitter high-frequency pulses - more robust than the old USB smoothsteppers and less susceptible to glitches generated by background processes. A good laptop will be fine - doesn’t have to be the latest and greatest, but more recent ones with an SSD card will be noticeably faster to boot up. Get a machine equipped with at least 8GB of memory. Note that many laptops these days do not have an RJ45 port, but instead take an inexpensive adapter that does – I am using one of these, and it works fine.