bridgeport series 1 retrofit

Hello All,

I've been lurking on this list for sometime now, as I have been
rebuilding my bridgeport series 1 cnc. I am getting close to the
stage now that I need to start thinking about the controller. The
bridgeport came without stepper motors and I got a great deal a
while back on some new nema42 steppers (1125oz/in, $99.00ea). I am
planning on using EMC with this setup (I was a unix admin in a
former life) so I feel comfortable with working with emc being a
newbie. I have a couple of questions I am hoping someone may answer:

1. Stupid question: how can I determine if my motors are capable of
microstepping? This will obviously determine my choice of drives
between the G201 or the G210.

2. Would a 77vdc power supply with some large caps on the output
sufficiently filter out ripple and not damage the Gecko's? I'm
concerned that my power supply may be a wee bit too close to the 80v
rating for the Gecko's.

2. Is it possible to use EMC (or any other cnc package for the
matter) to drive steppers with a DRO serving as a closed-loop
system? Some of the DRO's I've looked at have a RS-232 output, and
am wondering if there's a 'standard' for DRO outputs so they could
be integrated in a closed-loop system. I'm thinking of building one
of Scott Shumate's DRO-350's.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards, Bob