I’m building a CNC that i’d like to be able to run without computer connection and still have the versatility of say Mach3 G and M codes. Anyone have any experience? I figured something like motherboard or Ramps but need more functionality. Thanks!
What’s missing in RAMPS ?
The beaglebone is known to run LinuxCNC, maybe that’s what you want.
Looks like Rpi / BB + any controller board you want is the answer. You won’t get exactly Mach3 but Linux CNC is almost the same. What G / M code set are you looking for?
I use offsets., arcs, circles subroutines and tool offsets. currently building a teaching platform for kids, basically a drawbot. Usually hotwires and routers.
I am not a programmer BTW so it should be nearly plug and play. BBB and Raspi are no problem but setting up hardware, settings, etc would be. Is Grbl still alive?
GRBL is still active, but is pretty limited.
If you are looking for an all-in-one easy to set up solution ( with tutorials ) you can look at Smoothieboard ( my project ).
It has easy configuration, everything on-board, usb/ethernet, circles, z-probe etc …
@Arthur_Wolf , Chris at Robosprout has been trying to talk me into it! I looked at G-code but didn’t see quite enough functionality. That was a few months ago however… I have projects coming up at work that I could use them for as well.
Are you teaching kids to generate gcode from a drawing? Since most gcode Generator packages will overcome the lack of some of those routines.
@Joshua_D_Johnson Yay Chris 
Well tell me what you need and I’ll tell you ( how to live without it ? ) if it’s been added or is planned to be added shortly
For the time being it is an effort to teach how machines think. So code, cartesian coordinates, coordinated movement, etc.
@Arthur_Wolf ., i’ll get a list together tonight., Any chance of if/when statements?
Chris is a great guy!
@Joshua_D_Johnson Thanks I’ll be waiting for the list. No if/when statement, we expect those to be handled by a pre-processor.
Since when has Mach3 become versatile?
Mach3 is really easy to use albeit not for the industrial manufacturer. What affordable software do you use?
@Joshua_D_Johnson Linuxcnc
Just looking at LinuxCNC., looks pretty good. It does have SCARA capability and could probably be modified to simultaneous multiple workplanes. If/When is Nice! Not sure about running on Raspi or BBB though. Is it difficult?
for linuxcnc on BBB take a look at machinekit http://blog.machinekit.io/
normal desktop pc hardware is probably the easiest platform to get started with linuxcnc, but more and more people are using ARM single-board computers