USB connection

Do you have a PC with parallel port and a cable for it ?
That should work.

dlw wrote:

According to the seller, a usb to parallel cable is all that is needed to get it to work.
I will find out later.

I think we need more details.

What is the actual connector on the control box? What does it call itself?

Was it supplied with any software?

I think what you have is a JP382
www.aliexpress.com/item/32821517490.html

This is a parallel-port stepper driver.

What it seems is also provided (sometimes) is a USB to "CNC" cable, which is actually a DB25 connector with a CNC controller inside the DB25 connector.

So, you shoud be able to use your machine with LinuxCNC by:

- Connecting a motherboard parallel port to the machine with a fully-wired Parallel cable.

- If you don't have a Parallel port, but do have a PCI slot, then you can add a PCI parallel port (they are quite cheap, but be careful which one you buy as some only work with a windows driver. We can advise on ones that wil work if you go that route.

- For more money you can get a Mesa 5i25 PCI card. This looks a lot like a parallel port card, but costs more ($80) and can do more (like step 1000x faster)

- If you do not have a PCI port then another option, to use LinuxCNC, is to use a Mesa 7i92M, which is like the 5i25 but connected via an ethernet cable rather than PCI. That costs $90

The control box probably needs a USB connection too, but that is porely to supply a 5V logic power.