Closed Loop stepper

But that stepper driver can close the loop so why isn't it working in Mach? It should.

So what I read was that mach3 could only make the correction at the end of the run..(maybe that is wrong).for our application I was looking for real time adjustment..I also thought I read that linuxcnc could...maybe wrong..that is why I ask..I really know very little..thats why Im glad to find someone who does...Thanks

Yes, those will work with LinuxCNC, even with a parallel port as they take normal step/dir commands.
Although the speed will be limited with a parallel port, but it is easy to test and use to a certain extent.
LinuxCNC has real time control, mach3 on widnows does not .
As Rod mentioned, they should work with mach, and with a bit of tweaking might get good results, but i do not like or use neither windows nor mach.

thanks for reply...so the real time is important...so when you say the mach 3 could work you do not mean real time right?...if so I have no other choice but linuxcnc...will have to learn.
So would I need any other hardware in terms of boards etc?

Mach3 does not tell you if the PC has bad latency and misses steps.
It is very much worth learning LinuxCNC, and for what you need it is very easy.
If you have a PC with a parallel port, you can wire them directly to that port or use a cheap BOB (Break Out Board) that costs from 5 to 15$, or if you do not have a parallel port there are some PCI and PCI-E for 15 to 25$. Again Parallel port will have limited speed depending on the amount of micro-stepping used on the drives.
If you can afford the price, you can get the Mesa 7i96 for 120$ or Mesa 7i76E for 199$, they can do much more than a parallel port and have no speed limits and have plenty of inputs and outputs for many other thing that are needed for a CNC.

With Mach, the real time component is embedded into the tiny ESS.
With Linuxcnc, the computer is the real time component so it has a lot more power.

But my understanding is that with closed loop, say you send 1000 steps to the controller and the encoder senses that 8 steps were missed, It would issue the missing steps to the motor. Neither Mach nor Linuxcnc would even know!