Which Mesa card should I buy?

Hi everyone, 
I am very new in the universe of Linux CNC and programming a CNC. So I have a few question about this.

Recently, I learn that I need a Mesa Card to make a CNC. I was wondering why I need that part and which one should I pick ? Because in the pncconf, there are quite a few card that I can use. 

Thank you !

You do not need a Mesa card to run LinuxCNC, its is one of many options.
The simplest is perhaps a parallel port.

What hardware is appropriate depends on what machine you wish to
control, what performance you expect, and how much time you are
willing to devote to setting up the controller.

What kind of machine and motor drives do you have?

Thanks for the answer!
At this moment, I think I will choose the option of a parallel port.

Do you know where I can find this part? I am using a Raspberry Pi 4 model b with a digital stepper driver DM556T. It's a 3 axis machine with 4 motor and 4 drive. 2 of them are use for one axis.

Thanks for the answer !

Its woodworking CNC machine. I am using a Raspberry Pi 4 model b with a digital stepper driver DM556T. It's a 3 axis machine with 4 motor and 4 drive. 2 of them are use for one axis. Those motors are stepper motor 4.2A 3N.m

I don't expect any big performance. It's my first one, so it will be great that is a reliable one.

If your financial possibilities allow you to buy Mesa. Buy a Mesa 7i96s. I lost a year of my life trying to find a suitable computer with a parallel port. I ended up buying a Mesa and the machine started working reliably. I don't use Mesa for their performance, but for their reliability. When there is a problem with Mesa, the machine stops and gives you a message about what is happening. When there is a problem with the parallel port, the machine produces a scrap and does not tell you anything.

I would like to build 5 Axis TCP that cut soft metal.
I will use Rasp PI 4 4gb.
which ethernet Mesa board is best for me ?
I know nothing about linuxcnc.

need advice pls...
thank you

Do you use STEP/DIR driver?
Do you need some tandem Axis? (How many drivers are you plan?)

XYZ AB.
Step motor, 5 drivers.
No tandem

I just picked up from the side of the kerb a Lenovo M72E tower (not the SFF one). Had a G2020 which produced reasonable base & servo latency with 1 core isolated (Dedian Bookworm install with a RT-Preempt kernel).
Whilst it does have a parallel port header on board you'll need the lenovo cable, without it the Parallel Port doesn't show in the BIOS (I can confirm from first hand experience). Although it would be interesting to dissect it, apparently one of ground pins doesn't go to ground but goes to a GPIO pin on the Super I\O chip to enable the on board PP.
It does have 2 x1 PCIe slots that can each take a Parallel Port adapter card and a x16 slot.
The beauty with these is that a 3rd Gen i3/i5/i7 will run (can confirm i5 3470). If you want to run a dedicated GPU you will need to upgrade the PSU.
From one of the boxes in "The Cupboard Of I'll Need That Later" I grabbed a GPU and an SSD & Adapter I forgot I had.
So despite what some may say there still are PC with PP that you can get decent performance from.


Or you could just buy ALL the Mesa cards you can get your hands on...cos we know "He who exits this mortal coil with the most Mesa cards wins" hahaha

On a serious note this dude has some interesting stuff
www.youtube.com/channel/UCOKskywuQDlnV8yIkv67Gfw