it's been some time since i looked at it but i know there is definitely multiple options for at least several common types of bitcoin miner...
for the most part most of them operate over a serial connection via USB to a computer that is pulling block templates from a local bitcoin node, which is collecting transactions from the p2p network... it definitely helps to make sure you have this part of it right, but i would think that bitcoin core would be fine and you can run your GUI interface and wallet off the same machine, just have to enable the RPC
why i am asking about the node is that if the miner controller is not getting any new block templates it's not going to dispatch work to the miners either, it would be a crazy design for a miner controller to just keep mining for 3 hours with no new templates