The RoHS-compliant IDEA drive is a compact, easy-to-use electronic drive and fully programmable control unit with a patent-pending graphic user interface. Users program the drive via on-screen buttons instead of complicated command sets or other proprietary programming languages. Another feature of the drive is automatic population of the motor and drive parameters based on the Haydon actuator part number, which is entered by the user when prompted by the interface. Complex parameter calculations and in-depth stepper motor knowledge on the part of the user are unnecessary. For a more experienced user, default values can easily be adjusted as long as they remain within the safe range calculated by the software. The software allows the system designer to easily troubleshoot programs using line-by-line or multiple-line program execution with the interactive debug feature. Inputs and outputs can also be simulated in software before ever connecting actual I/O hardware.