Calculate the correct current limit for driver A4988

Ok. In what way are they inefficient? The most importen for me is that they are not producing noise and that I can drive a stepper with two pins instead of four. I cannot find any decent instruction telling me how to drive my stepper with L293 with only two pins from arduino. Is it possible? On a4988 im using step and dir. Can I use L293 in a similliar way?