>Whether it is your present depends on a lot of factors. Usually money
OK. In my case, Pulse/Dir has been working reasonably well for my needs so far, and most importantly I was able to get it working with very limited (aka known) knowledge to start with.
However, since I chose the most simple/cheapest way using parport and basic Bob, I have no room to implement things that would be really useful, such as 4th axis, tool gauge, feedback to LinuxCNC, etc... Any solution that would remove these limitations would require money, so I might as well go for some sort of industry standard, or at least a solution that is not strictly dependent on a single vendor.
This discussion conforts me in the idea that EtherCAT seems a logical choice in this respect, so thank you all for sharing your knowledge and experience