What's the extent of midi control with ETCnomad software?

before i tell you what flavours of midi Eos understands you need to be aware that currently the only way for midi into eos software is a Net3 Show Control Gateway (or the midi ports at the back of a console). nomad will not work with a midi-usb interface.
Eos will accept MSC for cues, macros and subs. and currently we don't accept input in any other midi flavor (except MTC).

i would strongly suggest looking into OSC

So on the ETCnomad page, it says the colbolt software can recieve direct midi for "third party midi panels" should I switch to the colbolt software to get support for my Akai LPD8?

Or how can I setup OSC? I just want to be able to trigger presets with a midi controller.

Take a look at the TouchOSC and other posts in the Eos Family Show Control section to see about OSC setup. It isn't all that complex but basic computer networking is a helpful skill. There are several types of devices that are similar to the LPD8. You can also use a computer as an in-between to take the LPD8 and turn it's commands into OSC. If you are on a Mac computer there is a program called Osculator that translates midi to OSC and OSC to midi.

Yes, Cobalt ETCnomad on Windows supports 'standard' USB-MIDI devices for MSC, MIDI Notes and Controllers.
- While we can't recommend any specific units, any device that uses the standard Windows USB MIDI interface should work.

Cobalt is a live, freeform direct-action console, and so for this kind of show control you are likely to prefer to run Cobalt ETCnomad anyway.

This is one of the differences between the two console families - either console can operate any show, some styles are easier to create on one console family than the other.
Your ETCnomad dongle gives you both, so you can choose the one you prefer for each event.