Linuxcnc 2.9.4 and Mesa 7i97T

But will it make any sense at all to try to configure the setup as long as I get an “unsupported board”

A little about the background for the project.
I have over time -as a side business - made several retrofits of older (woodworking)cnc machines
Normally I change the driveline to new hybrid steppers controlled by a plc with a control sw developed by ourselves (or in a few projects Mach 3&4), but in this project I have a huge 7ton Homag with very powerful Rexroth motors and drives where i have modified the drives to analog control.
Therefore I went for a LinuxCNC and a mesa 7i97T.
I accept there is a learning curve but it has been far more complex than expected.

I’m surprised about how many YouTubes are found about “LinuxCNC as easy as Mach3” a statement I have hard to believe unless you have 20 years of Linux behind you

You don't need "20 years of Linux behind you", get rid of that way of thinking. All you need to be able to do is follow instructions, minding syntax and not taking shortcuts, and be able to relay any error messages without leaving anything out. It is also to follow any links in replies, it saves those that reply having to repeat any info.

Oh and mesa wouldn't sell you a product that is deemed to work with Linuxcnc that doesn't .

Did you look at the download PCW attached, I think it was a simple config to get you going.

Upgrading mesaflash from the GitHub page may help with your issue .

Nkbhvid wrote:

But will it make any sense at all to try to configure the setup as long as I get an “unsupported board”

You should ignore that, it is the older version of mesaflash, you do not need mesaflash at all unless you need to change the board firmware, ever.
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As for "easy as...", it is same as everything in life, i can not use an iphone and will never ever learn as it is absolutely not intuitive, but i can operate medical equipment i have never seen before after about 15 seconds of looking at it.
Friendly advice, stop thinking about "mach vs LinuxCNC", they are not the same in any way, shape, or form, except both control machines, Mach is for small simple weekend use machines, LinuxCNC for everything from small engravers to huge industrial machines and fully automated production lines, hence it is simple only for simple machines, it can not be simple for a several ton industrial machine.
Get over it, move on, and start here first and foremost and do not skip anything:
forum.linuxcnc.org/10-advanced-configura...to-example-mesa-7i77

Forgot to mention, 7i97T = 7i92T + 7i77
So everything there is valid for your board.

Thanks a lot for helping
So… my question is: when do I need to change my firmware?
In all the resources I have been through I have been informed that I needed to secure that the connection between LinuxCNC and the mesa card (hostmot, hm2_eth and bitfile) all were in place and functioning correctly.
The ping OK was not enough.
Do I still need to do this or can I carry on?

I would just try either MesaCT  or the sample configuration.

As others have mentioned, you don't need mesaflash, unless you need
a configuration with a parallel expansion port connected daughter card,
or perhaps want MODBUS support.

Unfortunately the mesaflash version included with 2.9.4 is quite ancient
and does not recognize the 7I97T.

As long as:

mesaflash --device ethernet --addr 10.10.10.10

replies with the card name (whether it recognizes it or not) you have a connection.

The ping  test also works, except if you set the host IP address to the FPGA cards address
(a common mistake) but if mesaflash finds a card, unsupported or not, you have connectivity.