My Hans Wedemeyer L297/8 board just blew up. The magic electronic smoke escaped from the 298 when I turned on the power. So it is maybe time for a change. I have had no problems with this chipset even though I built it on veroboard and was planning on upgrading it to a prober milled pcb. I use a bungard CCD pcb Mill at work.
My question is what are the advantages over the 297/8 chipset, if any, of the other chipsets designs around. I fancy Alans LMd18245 PICSTEP board, but in the UK the chips are about £11 each (unless anyone knows a cheaper source) and will my machine run faster with more power or be about the same. I have looked at pminmos circuits maybe you could answer seeing as you have seemingly built every combination available? I was going to build your 3977 board but the cost of importing the chips from the US was prohibitative, as i cant find them over here.
I have 6 lead 2A steppers to control

Thanks Paul