Octave Capability / Control Mach3 System

[Rian Lauwrens]

Hi

I am a 2nd year Mechanical Engineering student busy with vacation work
at the NMISA. I am designing a system consisting out of a Mach3
breakout board, Geckodrive stepper driver, Stepper Motor and a linear
actuator. I want to write an Octave program to control the whole
system via the Mach3 controller through a parallel port.

I would appreciate it if someone could answer the following questions for me:

Will I be able to do this with Octave or will I need to use MatLab?
Do I need to download some sort of driver to control the Mach3 or will
I have to write it?
Is it true that I will send the Mach3 the GCode from my Octave program
to move according to my specifications?
Where can I get more info on this? I am eager to learn more.

I am awaiting your response and will appreciate it.

Regards


Rian Lauwrens