Verify my Mesa selection

Oh how cool is that. Yeah definitely wire them into the three surplus encoder inputs on the 7i97.

Would be very cool if you could connect that Heidenhain control panel into LinuxCNC as well. Do you have info about it? Is it a matrix keyboard?

I have already made a deal with a used electronics seller. The Heidenhain components will be sold and the money from that more than covers all components for the retrofit.I weel keep the middle panel because i can wrap my head around how the small keypad and the cycle start/stop buttons are wired. In the bottom I will just use a USB keyboard and encoders for JOG/SPEED/FEED.
 

That makes sense.