[Seeking Advice] Cheap Mesa 7i96S alternatives? (Clones vs. Colorlight/litehm2).
Hey everyone,
I'm putting together the electronics for a CNC build and I'm planning to run LinuxCNC. I know the Mesa 7i96S is basically the go-to board for this kind of setup, but I am on an extremely tight budget, and shipping plus customs to my country are ridiculously high. Buying a genuine Mesa board ends up costing a fortune.
I want something that leverages hardware step generation and is almost as good/reliable as a 7i96S, but way cheaper. I’ve been researching alternatives, but I’m feeling a bit lost and hesitant to go with any of the options i found before asking people who have actually gone down these paths.
The two main budget options I've found are:
1. 7i92 clones: I've seen 7i92 clones on AliExpress for a fraction of the cost. From what I understand, I can just flash the standard HostMot2 firmware on these, but they are still somewhat pricey compared to option 2 and i'm also not sure if these clones actually reliable under real working conditions? Do they run the stock Mesa firmware without random disconnects or gremlins?
2. The Generic FPGA / LED Card Route (litehm2 / Litex-CNC) I’ve been reading about projects that port HostMot2 or create generic CNC firmware (like Litex-CNC) for incredibly cheap LED receiving cards like the Colorlight 5A-75B or Linsn RV901T.
My main question: Has anyone here reliably run a machine on either of these budget setups? If you wanted 7i96S-level reliability on a strict budget, which route would you take? Or is there another alternative I should be looking at?
Any advice, personal experiences, or warnings would be massively appreciated!
Thanks in advance.