I'm running an Ultimachine RAMPS v1.4 on a MakerGear Mendel Prusa. My laptop runs Windows 7, with Python 2.7.2 installed. My usual workflow is (favourite text editor) -> OpenSCAD 2011-10-5 -> Slic3R 0.5.4 -> Pronterface -> Marlin 0.9.10L I'm happy! Marlin is smoother and quieter than Sprinter, and does curves better. You need Marlin nonGen6 for RAMPS, the V1 fork doesn't work on RAMby BrazenArtifice - RAMPS Electronics
If you have the pot set too high on a stepper motor driver, the driver will overheat. Then it starts to shut down repeatedly to try to protect itself from burnout. Sounds to me like your initial intermittent drive problem may have been due to having the pot set too high. In thinking it was skipping you may have made the overheating problem worse by turning it even higher. Sounds like a similar prby BrazenArtifice - RAMPS Electronics