Transitioning CNC Plasma from Win to Linux

Hi all:

I work at a high school that has a plasma CNC machine which runs on Win XP. The mill itself is about ~8 years old, but still functions (barely, because of the software). I am not the shop teacher; just the computer sciences teacher. However, we've been chatting about how to transition the mill to something more sustainable. The original company who sold us the mill has been quite mute on helping us out. They'd probably just want to sell us something new and shiny, of course. They've stated that they can't service it. So, I've been researching on what it would take to transition everything over to LinuxCNC, which I could do, from a software perspective, but I don't know enough about CNC machining to understand what we're in for (calibration, setup, hardware compatibility, etc.). Basically, I'm reaching out to you guys to help point me to resources, help from you, or any advice on how to transition everything over. Best,

M.

Thank you @tommylight, we won't have access to the school until August 29 the earliest. I will take lots of pictures and post here next week. Best,

M.