Well, I've certainly been finding both of your advice very helpful! so i would second that motion!
I'm planning to breadboard the circuit very soon, so I will post some pictures of that, and the final schematic that I use. After this, I intend to make a circuit using the l297 and the ULN2075B to control a unipolar stepper.
Also I have a nice working circuit that uses a TTL 74194 shift counter as the transalator. I'll post some picures of that too (under a different topic). I'm interested to compile a group of circuits to control both unipolar and bipolar steppers, that offer a range of price vs functionality options.
Just for the record...
Jonathan is in London, the capital of rain and tea!
(and i changed my user name to 'flat stanley' for those who remember my 'little accident' just after the London workshop!)