Newbie help wanted!!

Good day everyone, I just joined this list and already it seems that
some valuable info can be gained. I recently finished most of the
mechanical work on my homemade cnc router, I'm now starting off with
the electronic drivers.

What I need is advice or a pointer to some software that's free and
runs from the parallel port so that I can start testing the machine
after the drivers is done. I would really like the software to have a
proper help file since I'm REALLY new to G-code and all such things
related to the software aspect of it.

any help would be much appreciated !!

P.S. I'll post some pictures of the machine once it's painted, the
welding work is still a point of embarrasment....nothing a lick of
paint can't hide ;)