Newbie - what Mesa card to choose?

An alternative approach. If the 6040 has a genuine Mach3 license AND the plan is to sell it after bootstrapping into the new router, you could use it as-is with all the configuration already done. Moving the license to your computer may require some co-operation from the current owner as I'm not sure this type of transfer is allowed by the EULA. Hmm, that kind of negates the 'genuine' license argument but I'm not above bending rules when they appear to be unfair, your ethical bar may be higher

I agree with you that would be the easiest path but unfortunately won't work.

The gentleman who is selling the CNC used the CNC to build a net new CNC and he is keeping his PC and Mach3 license.

He has offered to let me copy his Mach 3 config files so if I did go that path of purchasing that license I could be up and running quickly.

We'll see how it goes, meeting him at 6 tonight and the cnc is reasonably priced, he sent me a video of it cutting aluminum plates date marked less than 1 month ago so I have high hopes it is a decent deal.

I watched a bunch of youtube videos and folks all pretty much said the machinery was pretty good but the control boards sucked. Spending a few more $ to make it run well won't bother me.

If you want to replace the board already on it then look at a 7i96 or 7i76e. Both ethernet. Don't run ethernet through a switch. First probably has enough io to run the router and the later will have more than enough and spindle control. Whatever crappy breakout board they are using may just be better to replace.

You can try and interface the parallel port with just a linuxcnc computer, 7i92, 5i25, 6i25 etc.

I went to check out the CNC tonight, the person selling it is quite an individual, think residential neighborhood and a house like everyone else but when you go inside his basement it is a full machine shop with an industrial scale mill and lathe. His new CNC machine was equally impressive.

He demo'd the 6040 CNC and everything seemed to work as expected so I purchased it.

After getting home I checked out the controller and it doesn't seem like it is worth trying to retrofit parts into this setup
photos.app.goo.gl/zgohFpdEmWtD2CfN6

I had ordered a new sata ssd hard drive a day ago, when it comes in I will build up the PC with linux cnc and see how far I can get using the parallel port.

I may purchase parts and start to make up a new controller setup for my CNC and use the same aircraft connectors so when my controller is ready I can swap it out.

I think keeping this setup as original as possible will make it more appealing if I sell it down the line.

MattK wrote: I had ordered a new sata ssd hard drive a day ago, when it comes in I will build up the PC with linux cnc and see how far I can get using the parallel port.

I think that is a good choice, if you have a parallel port. You will learn a lot in the process, and be in a better place to make hardware decisions with less money invested.

That looks like a generic TB6560 board. Just don't _ever_ disconnect the motors from the drive with the drive powered up.

I received in the hard drive and built up the linux cnc pc last night. I ran into some issues with trying to get it going but it was me trying to load the iso on the hard drive and make the hard drive bootable from a windows box.

I ended up making a bootable usb stick and then ran into more issues where the installer wouldn't see the hard drive. Maybe the 5th try I booted from the usb stick, then connected the harddrive after at the install screen and the installer detected the harddrive and I was able to finish the build

I am seeing some breakdown of the graphics image when you have the screen resolution off, the driver only seems to show 60hz, I'll have to mess with that a bit.

My previous post where I mentioned I had the right parallel cable was wrong and I ordered up a new one. hopefully by mid week I am doing some demo cuts.