Where to begin choosing Stepper Controller for Mill Drill?

Help! I don't know where to begin!

What I want to do: Turn my Mill-Drill ( 7"x18" or thereabouts) into step-motor driven
CNC.

What I DO know how to do: convert to Ballscrews (although I want to do that LAST.. I've
lapped the acme screws and adjusted out almost all backlash.. it runs smooth, and I'm
POOR).
I know how to mount stepper motors, etc.
I know the mechanicals.

It's the leads off the steppers... there's where I get clueless!

I've got a vocational degree in Machine Tool Technology... and I spent two years learning
how to program a Bridgeport Boss 8 control... but that was 12 years ago, and I'm lucky to
remember the difference between G00 and G01. I'm perfectly comfortable re-learning
Gcoding for 90% of what I want to do. Yeah, CAM softare is great.. and I'll do it eventually,
but to START, I just want to run some fairly simple cuts that I can code myself.

Somebody please check me here...
What I THINK I need is this;
A PC (of course) with a parallel port.
One of a large variety of software packages to send commands (from my Gcode) out the
Parallel port to a controller (for example, DeskNC for Dos).
That said controller I know darn little about.. I've seen ads for the $3000+ setups from
MicroKinetics and AhHa!, and then I've seen kits from LiniStepper and HobbyCNC, and
finsihed units from StepperWorld for under $200 for all three Axes.

Somebody please throw me a bone here... How do I tell which kind of controller to use?
(OTHER THAN it has to be capable of handling motors of sufficient Oz-in.. that part I
got...).

Given a PC, and something like DeskNC or similar software, what needs to go between the
parallel port and the Stepper motors?

I'm not afraid of solding things to boards... as long as I have good instructions on what
goes where...

Any other gunsmith/machinists with very little electronic knowledge who can recommend
some INEXPENSIVE parts to retrofit my Mill-Drill to 3 axis (or 2 and half axis, and I'll add
the "other half" later) , I'd be grateful!

Paul F.