Which controller is among the best in the price range 200$/140£ in the EU?
I have been looking at USB SmoothStepper.
Anything else i should consider?
Smoothie board or tinyg
The one that I custom made for myself. If you knew what you were doing you could probably modify an imported TB6560 board to be pretty good.
@Dat_Chu i’ll be using external drivers, since i will have to power 3/4 nema23 @ 4.2A
@Off-grid_Denmark If you need that much current check out some Gecko drives.
All the above options can use external drivers. You can add cooling to drive at those amp I believe.
i have the drivers, what i’m looking for, is a controller, prefereably an usb.
Bepro++ if you have a beagle bone black. I was having the same issues as you and found most boards dealt with printer ports or rs232 which it is possible to build a breakout board or cable for the drivers, but was hoping to avoid it. Another bbb option is the pbx-bb. For raspberry pi, I was trying to track down a grblpi, but didn’t get too far. Smoothie board can handle off board drivers and has a great wiki base and app.
What drivers did you go with?
Take a look at the products at http://www.panucatt.com
I’ve got an X3 pro running Marlin. Up to 8 steppers, $135USD
The x5 mini runs smoothieware. $109USD
I always go for a PC with LinuxCNC. http://www.linuxcnc.org
I guess it depends how you want to drive it. If you are happy with a dedicated PC, you could go LinuxCNC or Gecko using parallel ports and monolithic drivers. If you want to go USB or wireless, you can use G2, Panucatt, GRBL, TinyG or Smoothieboard. If you want ethernet, then Smoothieboard. If you want SD card, then Panacutt or Smoothie.
I have run a bunch of different software/hardware options including LinuxCNC, Mach3, etc., but not all on CNC routers, my preference now is for Smoothieboard. You get a great board for 85 Euro.
@Mike_Thornbury
LinuxCNC supports more than just the parallel port. There are the Mesa Electronics Anything I/O Cards too you know?
Yeah, I am aware… as opposed to a card that deciphers g-code internally and connects in 4 different ways… Sorry, but Mach3/LinuxCNC are so very, very old school for DIY CNC. Things have moved on since the 80s 
I have card that doesn’t even need to connect to a PC to cut what I want - thus saving me a complete system and its various interfaces. Although I don’t actually use it from SD card, the option is there.
I think that Mach3/LinuxCNC is more for the ‘industrial’ style of CNC/Mill, rather than for home CNC.
@Mike_Thornbury
I use a PC because it is the cheapest option available to me. The PC I use I picked up at a thrift store for $5. Your SD card costs more.
So your pc doesn’t have a controller card, a set of stepper drivers? Sorry mate, my card does all that - for 85 euros.
@Mike_Thornbury
Sorry mate, I made my own electronics external to the PC. That did not cost me so much to do either. It did take a bit of time though. But I obviously like doing electronics, or I wouldn’t be so good at it now.
@Off-grid_Denmark If you are considering Smoothieboard and have any question about it, you can contact me directly via G+ or at wolf.arthur@gmail.com. I’ll answer any question, any time.
Great board, @Arthur_Wolf ,
@Paul_Frederick so you are answering the question of a hobbyist asking “what board?” by telling us what a great engineer you are that you made your own and used a $5 PC you found in a junk shop. Well congratulations to you, I’m sure you did an awesome job of answering his question, while blowing warm air up your own skirt. Did it occur to you that someone capable of doing that wouldn’t be asking that sort of question in the first place?
I’m sure you won, whatever game it was you were playing.
Wow… Such strong feelings, and no answer. 
I have done a lot of homework today…
I was confused as how to use the SmoothStepper, and what else would be needed to get it running.
I have now figured “everything” out, and just awaiting next pay-check to order it.
The cheap eBay alternatives looked to flimsy…
But thank you for your time. 
@Arthur_Wolf , I might hold you up to that.
Are you in any way affiliated with Warp9td?