canibalising old printers

Hi,

Just wondering if there are any motor driver board that accept step
and direction signals that can be cannibalised for lightweight CNC
work.

I understand that most printers are controlled using HPGL rather than
G-code. I understand also that some controller accept steps and
direction signal and others phase (whatever does this mean?). Are
these two (language and controller) related or independent, and how
so?


Thanks

Peter

Peter