i asked noisebridge if we can take the MaxNC and they seem to be OK with it, i
just need to go pick it up.

https://noisebridge.net/wiki/MaxNCMill

it works the same way as the cheap shitty MyDIYCNC that we have now, except
that this is a Real Machine and much more accurate.  As for untethering it
from the shitty old desktop, i have a mini computer with a parallel port that
can be attached to the back of the CNC, and then it can be used from one's
laptop via ssh with x-forwarding, or one can plug in a monitor and keyboard, or
use x11vnc or whatever

but a smoothie board would be inappropriate since the MaxNC has its own motor
driver electronics, and only needs to be sent TTL signals (from a parallel port
or whatever) to step along in whatever direction.

if you wanted to convert the MaxNC to something simpler, a regular arduino with
a g-code interpreter and a DB25M plug would work just fine to step it around.

-jake

On Tue, 9 May 2017, Morgan Allen wrote:

Took another crack at trying to drill through holes with the mini CNC.
Short story, still doesn't work but I figured out why the origin/home is so
far away, at least when using KiCAD.

Notes: https://gitlab.com/snippets/1661557

I would be nice to upgrade the CNC to use a Smoothie Board, doing away with
the need to use Real-Time Linux, not sure if the owner would be keen, but
at $45 I feel it would be a worthy investment.