hi Art
Since 2005 I use Mach2 for a plasma cutting table 4mtr. at 7 meters it always works

Now I would like to switch to Mach3.
  but mach3 the lpt1 not see.
  the port addres in Mach2 is 0x378 and works
  in Mach3 is also addres 0x378 and does not work
can you help me please
Thank you for your wonderful software

No, I mean put the license file onto your desktop, then , in Mach4, there is a selection under help for "import license file". Use that and point the dialog to the desktop license. It will copy it to the correct spot. That usually fixes a -11 error..

Art

thank you VERY much for your help
Its running 

Great!. Merry XMas.

Hi,

Can you confirm for me that if I want to go with Darwin rather than an external motion controller I need an external graphics card ?
At the moment I am using the on board graphics on my motherboard.
Forgive my ignorance but why does it make a difference. Does the amount of system memory and main processor have no impact?

When I started building my cnc It seemed simple as I had a Chinese kit with a basic bob and I was only thinking about Mach3.
I can see that Mach4 is better in some ways but the choices about printer port and an older operating system or a external motion controller are giving me a headache.
One moment I seemed on the verge of buying software and seeing if this creation would actually do something useful with a router now I seem a way off again.

Any insightful thoughts would be appreciated.

Steve

Steve:

  Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I havent heard of anyone having trouble with Darwin due to internal graphics, Id run it and see.. It should work OK,
you just have to be in XP or 32 bit win7 for it to work.. Memory doesnt affect Darwin, but it may affect M4..

Art

Hi Art

Thanks for the reply

Steve

No problem.. its what I do.

Art

I've been using mach4 and Darwin for a few months on a small plasma table.  Everything  works but the cut quality has been poor or unpredictable. The problem could be any number things but I noticed the pulse stream  in Darwin with a pulse count of 25000 has 4 distinct Blue lines and one with a pink line through it. This looks different than the you tube video I watched? Is this an indicator of something wrong? The interrupt stays below 4. 

Thanks,

James

Hi James:

  It doesnt sound bad, the pink in the line means the vast majority of interrupts are coinciding with expected intervals.
If you can post a snapshot Ill tell you what I think, but it sounds correct, just different from mine in the video. If the blue
lines are very prominent, then you could have something intefering.. hard to say, but generally I found Darwin to be less
susceptable to noise than Mach3's driver.

Art