New builder hardware suggestions

Hi,
New to the forum and new to cnc. I am building a CNC plasma cutting table based on plans from Homemade Madness however, I would like to use LinuxCNC instead of Mach3 as in the plan. I have not bought any of the motors or controllers yet so was hoping to get some advice before purchasing anything. I plan to use an old laptop for the install of Linux and LinuxCNC so am also looking for suggestions for the best version of Linux to use. Thanks in advance for any suggestions, help.

forum.linuxcnc.org/plasma-laser/38974-di...rything-in-one-place

forum.linuxcnc.org/show-your-stuff/38547...-5m-cnc-plasma-build

forum.linuxcnc.org/plasma-laser/35349-cn...lding-info-and-guide

And laptops are not usually preferred for running LinuxCNC due to inherent power saving features that cause latency issues.
Having said that, here are some that do work:
forum.linuxcnc.org/18-computer/54369-use...mesa-ethernet-boards

And some used and new PC's tested with LinuxCNC
forum.linuxcnc.org/18-computer/38838-har...ency-tests-used-pc-s

Thanks for the reply, it's all a bit overwhelming the information on the site when you have no Linux experience at all.

For plasma and starting with LinuxCNC with stepper motors, I would get a Mesa 7i96s and a Mesa THCAD2 to read the torch voltage. Also get a Meanwell MDR-60-24 24 volt power supply for field power and a Meanwell MDR-10-5 5 volt power supply for logic. When you order your Mesa gear also get some of their DIN rail mounts and a couple of COMMX2 bus bars. That will set you up for a running start.

Wow that just got expensive. This is a portable table, the cut dimensions are adjustable at the design stage and I am probably going to make mine 1000x800. The designer suggested a Nema 23 stepper kit with DM542 drivers and a Mach 3 controller from Aliexpress at about $235. I was hoping to use something like this probably with just a different break out board. Is this not possible? This is for hobby use and I am in QLD Australia if that makes any difference. This is also my first build, hopefully learn something and able to modify or make a MK2 at some stage.

An old PC with parallel port, cheap TB6600 drives (smaller ones with TB62s109 are good), and motors, that is all you need, probably under 100$ total.