Which would be the best option for driving the 3/4 axis stepper motor for 3D printers

[jatindecoded]

I have researched a bit over google and reprep websites and come across different circuits/methods to drive the stepper motors. Being a student only , I have budget issues and I want it to be less sophisticated , more robust and cheap of-course. Amongst these , which would be better , it's really confusing :

https://www.instructables.com/id/Ea...r-and-Driver-ci/?comments=all#C0WODY4HPEG8ZK1 (However , in this method I am skeptic whether I can test this one motor or not and the software used (KCAM/Mach 3 ) is being tested for the 3 motor .If I make this circuit for 3 motors altogether and if it doesn't work , debugging will be tough like hell

https://xavierstechno.blogspot.in/2012/02/easy-driver-with-arduino.html They have used easy drivers which are very expensive

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-wire-an-arduino-based-3-axis-CNC-machine/

Another thing what I have thought is to use L293D/ULN2003 to drive motors (which apparently a cheaper method to do so ) but in that case I would need an Arduino with 12 PWMs , my uno has only 6 PWMs.

 

[Artlav]

What about L297/L298 combo?
It's a cheap, robust and easy to home-make driver that would fit something the size of a RepRap.
I.e. https://reprap.org/wiki/Stepper_Motor_Driver_1.2

AFAIK, no PWM is required - the drivers are controlled by pulses (one pulse-one step), not with a PWM signal, so all you need is a DIR and STEP pin per motor, and optionally an enable one.

 

[jatindecoded]

What about L297/L298 combo?
It's a cheap, robust and easy to home-make driver that would fit something the size of a RepRap.
I.e. https://reprap.org/wiki/Stepper_Motor_Driver_1.2

AFAIK, no PWM is required - the drivers are controlled by pulses (one pulse-one step), not with a PWM signal, so all you need is a DIR and STEP pin per motor, and optionally an enable one.

Seems legit , I have got one l297 , I have an L293d instead of l297 , I googled a circuit of that ,
https://static.rcgroups.net/forums/attachments/3/1/2/5/2/2/a3229043-39-_schematics.jpg

However I don't understand what happens with the pins HOME and SYNC in that schematic.

Would they work with firmwares like grbl and repetier ?:

I basically want them for CNC and 3D printer applications. Is that worth it ?
Thanks for your very help ! .