No worries mate, as we say down here...
I can understand the frustrations, been there myself a few times, and when money is involved, can make it ten times worse..
I am sure an opportunity will eventually present itself to you over time...
On a much lighter side, sorry, but I have to ask, so please only laugh !!,
but does this mean we won't see an end to the debate on "Analogue v's Digital.".. 
I think that is also what Trump and Putin are talking about when they meet. They are aware of the problems that the analogue/digitale debate causes and have therefore decided, that the debate can and will only be solved by nuclear weapons.... So we will see and end to the discussion..... When then world ends........... 
@Gavin
Cheers mate, and well, using that term I'm guessing you must either be in OZ or the UK then, but you're far too cheerful for it to be the UK, so I'm guessing it must be OZ!
Yeah, to have some cash on the hip would help, but then again, it's not so much the cost but the inconvenience. I'll have to move away from the XP machine sooner or later, but now is not the best time for me to do it due to the system being ideal in all other respects. I've been working on purely electronic synths as well, having fun with that, so I still have projects to keep me occupied in that respect.
As for the Analogue Versus Digital debate, dude, I already won that one by default 
@jaffasplaffa
Well, just tell Putin and Trump that "Analogue is the Daddy", and if they have a problem with that, to pay axoman a vist where they'll be subjected to some real-world facts in axoman's secret torture chamber. The amount of skeletons down here from the remains of digital-diehards, is truly remarkable. Trump, Putin, makes no different to axoman, they all rot-away to bone, just like everyone else 
Axoman Industries - Ruling the world in Analogue!
Nope,
did you ever try a Russian analog synth like the Polyvoks ?
That's pure analog tovaritch @axoman...
crazy analog I mean...
If you want to get rid of logic (which is the basic bourgeois digital concept), get a Polyvoks !
You will see how creative it is to have communist knobs. I mean knobs that interfere with each other (because of lack of decadent western buffer circuits).
I've never used a Russian analogue synth, but I've seen plenty for sale on eBay so there's plenty of them around to be snapped up. Can't recall specifically listening to one on YouTube either to be honest, but you got me curious, I'll check them out once I've needed to top-up the sim. I'm being extra cautious right now cause this is the first time I've been dependent on all this "SIM" bullshit. They charge £25 just for 12GB (and that's £5 cheaper than the normal price). That works out at over £2 for just a single gigabye, the extortionate bastards.
Compared to other deals out there, it's good the data is valid for 12 months, but I think I'll be lucky to make it last for one or two!
Ok, guys ... please settle down....
This forum is primarily for support of Axoloti...it is expected to be a friendly, open and welcoming place for everyone.
We love the fact that many users enjoy the supportive nature felt here.
In the lounge we all things to wander a little further away from Axoloti, to allow discussion things like DSP to be discussed more generally, however if this starts causing friction between users we will close it down.
please also remember the written word is easy to misunderstand, especially for non native english speakers, so be particularly careful with things like 'humour' ... if its possible it might be misinterpreted, simply do not say it.
If you have a problem with a post or a user, report it , either via the report icon on the post or my PMing @thetechnobear and/or @johannes ... do not start commenting on it.
this was all covered by the guidelines you were given when you signed up to Axoloti, so if anyone abuses this, we will give you a 'timeout' from the axoloti forum to reflect.
As in the other thread, water under the bridge, Marc, it was hopefully just a misuderstanding!
I do stress the word "Hopefully" though, cause if I find out you really was up to no good, I have plenty of room in my secret torture chamber, and plenty of Vinyl records that have been shaped into circular saws, ready to teach the digital-diehards a lesson in who the daddy is!
That's not torture !
Real torture would be letting you play them on one of those horrible home made manual cardboard record players you brag about so much... 
Nice to hear everything worked out, forum support is priceless, Nightmare is over...
Gav, dude, what you saw there was a very beautiful thing. You saw a demonstration of man, machine, and audio reproduction in perfect harmony!
Very true, this is a great community, and yes indeed, the nightmare is over
Actually, there's even more good news as far as this whole going off-grid thing goes. I mentioned the other day about how little energy the XP box was using, but I discovered yesterday, it's even less than I stated. Among all the cables here, I noticed I had other stuff plugged into the adapter on the end of the cable I had attached to the energy monitor. I said before it was drawing 90 to 105W, but actually it's only drawing around 65 to 70W - plus the monitor of course which is around 30W, so I have a full-size tower and pro monitor drawing around only 100W in total. It's still more than a laptop draws, but not by much.
Very pleased about that 
I'm using an USB->Parallel converter in Windows 7/64 Bit on my CNC machine. Works like a charm.
That's all GRBL is, a USB to Parallel converter, lots of free software options has been created to send the gcode to arduino, if you already have the shield, its just the parallel cable to your motor controller.
Thanks both, I didn't realise it was as simple as that actually, so that's good cause I just might have to fall back on it after todays discovery. I just discovered my Axoloti has a mind of her own (see the XP thread), but with a bit of luck I'm about to remind her who's boss!
@Gavin
I've been looking into the GRBL thing, haven't set it up yet, but I found a program called G-Code Sender that was written in Java. So just to be clear, you're saying that I could use that on Windows, via USB connected to the Arduino/GRBL, and that will directly control the CNC?
Really, it's that simple?
It seems a bit too good to be true, considering all the messing around that normally has to be done. Reason I ask is because I've found an even lower power-consumption solution. I could buy one of those Windows 8.1 Fanless Mini PCs that run on 12V. Never thought of that before! And if I'm understanding you correctly then I'd be able to use that to run both the Axo and the CNC.
Yes indeed it is that simple.
But you are aware that there are setup parameters when using GRBL ? like how many steps to travel x number of millimeters etc.. and lots of other options.. Sure you can work it out, pretty standard where CNC is concerned.
The software I use is called "Shapeoko" if you google "GRBL Shapeoko" you will find it. I believe it is one of the more popular for GRBL. You then just load the gcode file, adjust to your start position and off you go.
I run mine on a really old pc that someone threw away, with a minimal version of XP, its all it does and runs fine.
Sure, I'm aware of the CNC setup requirements, setting-up the machine etc, I just meant it seems a bit too good to be true to be able to just connect it to an Arduino/GRBL and completely avoid all that Parallel Port configuration crap.
This is great!
It's been a long time since I looked into actually setting it up from scratch again (never needed to due to having a working Windows XP setup). But anyway, I searched for that software you mentioned, but cannot find it. All I keep getting are results for a CNC machine-build project called ShapeOko, but I can't find any actual software called "ShapeOko" or "GRBL ShapeOko".
Gotta link Gav?
Sorry mate, appears I had a "too much space between the ears" moment... 
The software is called "Zapmaker" - http://zapmaker.org/
You should check out the site, its got some interesting info etc..
the download is on github - https://github.com/zapmaker/GrblHoming/releases
I think maybe it's cause you're Australian, being upside-down all the time!
Cheers mate, will check that out 
My USB/parallel converter also has a feedback. So the CNC program always knows, where the mill is positioned.
