Which mesa card for new machine?

I I would like to change my machine from beaglebone black (machinekit) to mesa with linuxcnc. But I am not sure which mesa i should choose.
So I this is what i found out.

1) 7I76E
2) 7I96 STEP/IO Step & dir with any I/O daughtercard.
3)  7I76-5I25 PLUG-N-GO KIT

So my first taught was 7I76E

Second question I have leadshine drives. But I am no sure do i need sinking or sourcing outputs for that.

Many thanks
mathias

 

7i76E is very good and has everything you might need and plenty of expansion options.
7i96 has no dedicated spindle control.
7i95 has everything plus encoder inputs for all stpegens.

Okay so the 7i95 is the same like 7i76E plus encoder. So if i would like steppers with encoders someday it would be the better choice - right?

Yes.

Many thanks

You are welcomed, always.

And is the card fully supported. I do read something that tools are missing. Is this fixed already. And If i would like to use pathpilot in the future can i use it with this board.

Many thanks

Yes the card is fully supported in version 2.9, might be also in 2.8 but not sure.
Also pretty sure it can be used with Path Pilot, might want to ask that question in the "path pilot" section of this forum to be sure.