Welcome to LinuxCNC.org

As noted in other responses, there are boards based on the Intel ATOM pricessor that work perfectly. This is funny, really. All new Intel x86 processors except the ATOM are basically too good (i.e. too feature-rich) for LinuxCNC. but the ATOM accidentally works perfectly. (Well, almost perfectly: you do need to constrain Linux to using only one of the two CPU cores: this lets LinuxCNC use the other core by itself.)

You can build a computer around the ATOM motherboard. I will do this if my ancient Dell GX280 dies. My "perfect LinuxCNC computer" will be an ATOM mobo with an external power brick and a LAN connection, with no KVM and no disk. This system uses so little power that it does not need a fan and can therefore be sealed into the base of my machine, avoiding dust problems. My solution will cost about $200. I will use VNC or some other remote sreen system to control the computer from my "real" computer.

If you just want to get running and prefer to spend your time on machining instead of building a computer, you might want to consider the computer from Probotix. It costs about $265. They intend it for use with their CNC machines, and it ships with LinuxCNC installed. I seriously doubt that they intend for their computer to bre used for non-Probotix CNC machines, so they are not likely to be tremencously helpful if you have a strange problem, but they are good folks and will at least know what LinuxCNC is if you contact them.

For me: I bought a refurbished Dell GX280 for $100 from Tigerdirect. (Actually, I bought a GX260, but they shipped a GX280.) This machine just works for LinuxCNC. It's too big, and too hot. It has a fan, and will eventually die due to dust inhalation in the shop, but it just works.

For reference, here's a link to my collection of hardware on my Flickr account. Also one of the TAIG mill/motor setup as it current stands (or sits). The entire "CNC conversion set is here but this set is mostly involving flanging up of a 4th axis device for the mill, from a design by Tony Jeffree which appeared in "Model Engineer's Workshop" magazine some years ago.

Cheers,
Alex.

Hi John,

I meant to put in where I was from in my initial post, but got distracted and forgot . My apologies!

I'm inclined to use Campbell board since I have it already, although i can't remember what I paid for it; however, five or so years ago the $Oz was a lot lower wrt the $US than it is currently (that appears to be changing again, though).

I did in fact order a BOX525DW from a crowd here in Sydney this afternoon, for AU$90 + postage, having been seduced by the idea of having the computer in the same box as the CNC controls - and had in fact been recenlty, albeit vaguely toying with the idea of doing just that, although I didn't then quite know how I was going to go about. Thanks to you people, I now do .

That just leaves a few things like memory and psu that I will take my time over. Likewise, i'll read throughthe 5i25's manual, which I downloaded from Mesa's website and have a bit of a think. My current impression is that it might be better at handling sigal timing than the onboard lpt1, but I could be wrong there.

Cheers,
Alex.