Our project is all about standardizing the hardware pin-outs, firmware, and cable wiring diagrams. We asked our users to not post these documents publicly for external download for several reasons, but mostly we saw what happened to the Ciclop and RAMPS project quality. I am forking Ciclop-fw code over the next few months, recovering the fragmented documentation, and am trying to map the infinity auxiliary port so more than one device operates from the same hardware with the correctly labeled axis. ;-)

The firmware is setup for the atmega2560, follows a strict pre-defined pinout standard (we don't want the wrong firmware on a machine), and several low-level chip resources for things like PWM/Timer/UART make these assumptions.

I would recommend using the main firmware trunk for your hardware. Or if you are a student in the US or Canada,  we can simply give you a gen2 Beta unit as our members begin to upgrade to gen3 this next month (note: the pinouts should never need changed unless there was a build error).

Cheers,

J

Projects like Machinekit/LaserWeb are more intended for a print-server/HMI design, but we wanted the entire CAD/CAM/CNC packages in a desktop OS people can adapt as needed. Our goal is a single download that supports common hardware like 3D printers, 3D scanners, laser cutters, vinyl cutters, CNC lathes and so on... Yet also use a design that can recycle hardware people typically already have around, and use modules that are heavily documented already.  

I have done non-industrial projects like Machinekit's Microchip based boards before, and they can be difficult for the end users to modify/debug (PIC compilers are unkind to the uninitiated). Not really a solution for students, as we are trying to finish an inexpensive EDM sinker mill-addon design for putting sub-mm holes in steel and carbides.

The Arduino makefiles are generic, and do support many different boards. The firmware we support is for the atmega2560 ($10 delivered), as the legacy boards were not powerful enough to run a 5-colour printer the way we wanted. We needed a complete 8-bit wide port to latch synchronously, and the Arduino PCB layout was never designed with this in mind.

We gifted a motherboard to the Heekscnc author in the UK a few months back (along with several others), as we have found his open-source software very useful over the years.  The shipping is about 70 pounds if I recall (not sure if they added VAT taxes on his end), but if you promise to post a photo of a Stuart model steam engine... I'll send you one with the Arduino for free.  I probably should stop doing this, as I get in trouble from Mrs. Claus.  ;-)