Correct or Max voltage for Bridgeport Nema 42? + more...

<sigh>

It seems there's quite a few of these BOSS mills that have been
retrofitted, but no single source of information about the
conversions (except some pics here and there).

I hate to be the guy who posts a different and un-interesting
question every day, but I don't know what else to do.

Hopefully I can be some use to the newbie down the road when I get my
feet on the ground with this stuff.

Anyway...question of the hour is.....

The Bridgeport BOSS I am trying to convert to PC controls has the
standard NEMA 42 axis motors. There is a power supply and rectifiers
already in the machine that outputs 60-70-80vdc from 230/460 3 phase.
This is a beefy and already mounted transformer setup so I'd like to
use it (also saves money).
Not knowing any better, at this point I plan to use Gecko 201's
because It's the most common drive I've seen discussed for these
conversions. The Gecko rep says using 80v is out because they max at
that voltage and with the power company fluctuations, I'd probably
toast it. So that leaves me with 60 or 70 v to work with.
You are also supposed to know the max rated voltage for your
motors...which I have no clue.
In one way I'm tempted to just run the 60v through it, but anyone
who's ever disected a BOSS knows that there are about 200 other caps
and resisters and gosh knows what before that voltage ever hits the
original drives (which could also lower the voltage), so without
knowing what the drives are supposed to run on, I fear that I might
use the wrong voltage as a result of bypassing the original
electronics.
So, my question is... does anyone know the correct (or a really good)
voltage to use with these motors and if 60 or 70 volts would be one
of them?
Also, while I'm here....
I am planning to order this Gecko 201's late Monday (pending the
results of this post)...
Is this the best (or best for the cost) way to go?
I'm really new to all of this and I see all these other motion
control boards out there that state they drive axes.
It seems like all the software choices that aren't proprietary simply
address LPT ports and I'm wondering if these software choices
(CNCpro/Master5/etc) will see and control motion control boards
without modification or if there is some sort of intermediate drive
software for the boards that "tricks" the software into treating the
board as a LPT? Or am I just stuck with LPT if I want to be able to
stick with the standard?
The reason I ask is because I can see some limitations in what you
can do with only step and direction pulses on a single LPT. You'd
think that some developer would at least consider accessing two LPT
ports for more options. I've seen relay boards that could be quite
useful, but would require an extra LPT, not to mention a few DAC
boards.
So before I lay down my 400 bux, is this the best I can do? A few
Geckos's and no possible coded spindle speed control (without being a
mad scientist electronics pro), and a very limited amount of
switches, and input capabilities? I almost wish the standard had been
built on a board with just a few more capabilities than the LPT.
This is especially important for me to learn as I have a Kitimura VMC
with servos, jog wheel, and a toolchanger that I have lined up for
retrofit as soon as I complete the BOSS and I would like to know the
extent of the possibilities are with this group of software or if I
will have to go with something more proprietary or expensive (ie
Camsoft) I'd like my experience with the BOSS to somehow apply to my
decision to retrofit the VMC or just have it fixed.
The software out there seems good enough, but it feels like they got
sidetracked on the interaction with machines.
What are my options here, this thing is in pieces around my shop.

Thanks very much
Sean

P.S. so much blabbering from me that people are going to forget about
the NEMA 42 voltage question. hehe