tl;dr: 2009 Q2 with A4983 then A4988 since 2011

Today is a day in July 2024. For about a decade the basic go-to stepper motor driver has been a 16-pin DIP PCB module design by Pololu, or a cheap copy thereof, typically carrying an A4988 driver ic, or a cheap copy thereof.

I say "typically ... A4988" because that's my own experience. More objectively: Pololu's descriptions for all of their not-A4988 modules refer to the A4988 part as the prototype to which each is more or less similar.

I say "about a decade" because shrug. More objectively: Allegro MicroSystems, Inc. announced the A4988 in 2010, which wasn't much more than a decade ago. Pololu's product photo shows a 2011 copyright date, which would make sense for an application of a part announced 2010.

The photo caption says "A4983/A4988" and way down at the bottom of the A4988 part description there is a note:

"Note: This board is a drop-in replacement for our original (and now discontinued) A4983 stepper motor driver carrier."

The "original" A4983 part looks almost identical (slightly different traces) with a 2009 copyright date.

From poking around in the Wayback Machine, it looks like Pololu was offering the 4983 module by 7 July 2009 after it wasn't in a 29 May capture. I haven't found a distinct new product announcement. A couple of forum posts from 19 Jun 2009 appear to almost certainly refer to this product. So, some time between 29 May and 19 June 2009.

That appears to be Pololu's first stepper driver (vs. dual H-bridge which could be used to drive a stepper) and the answer to the origin question.

At that time there was also a dual H-bridge driver having the same 0.6" x 0.8" 16 pin DIP dimensions. Pololu was offering that part by September 2008 and it remains current in slightly evolved form. Like the stepper drivers, that has power connections on one side and signal connections on the other. On the power side they both take in two supplies and drive two motor coils so the connections on that side are similar (not identical). Unlike the stepper drivers, the ic does a different thing differently controlled by different signals. So the 0.6" x 0.8" 16 pin DIP PCB carrier with power on one side, signal on the other, and a driver ic for two motor windings goes back another year. As offered by Pololu anyhow. The point being that the similar-looking thing Pololu already had before 2009, while similar in some respects, is too dissimilar to count for pushing the date of origin any further back.

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Whence the clones?

The clones all appear to use (one unit of) the "StepStick" design openly published 18 March 2011 by "Joem" on the RepRap wiki. Joem wrote: "With the recent outage of Pololu A4893 stepper driver boards, I've been wanting to build my own, and break my dependency (no offense, I <3 you Pololu!)." 

Motivated by shortage of A4983 parts (Pololu boards, not Allegro chips) and published pretty nearly exactly the same time Pololu offered the A4988 modules.

Joem showed a red PCB so all (& only?) the A4988-bearing clones were red -- apparently until red/green because a fake/real criterion and A4988-bearing clones became available in your choice of red or green. Other 0.6" x 0.8" DIP 16 modules with different drivers ICs appear to all be not red. ?.

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Trivia

(i.e. even more trivialer)

Currently the 4988 page shows the 2011 date board-and-quarter photo above.  In earlier captures the A4988 page shows the same 2009 date board-and-quarter photo. The A4988 product photo was updated from the pre-A4988 part to the 2011-dated part in ... 2019. Which leads to finding other things...

• 2009
  • [May 28 -- I have a note that A4983 module existed but I don't remember where I saw that]
  • May 29 <d< Jun 19: Pololu A4983 module listed
• 2010
  • April 29: Allegro announced A4988
  • June: Pololu ordered some -- which were not delivered until...
• 2011
  • some time after Jan 26: ...A4988s received at Pololu
  • Mar 3 (not in category) <d< Apr 17 (product page archived): A4988 modules listed by Pololu
    • A4988 product page uses same photos as A4983 page including 2009 copyright date on bottom of PCB and 0917 date code on ic (where the "3" looks a lot like an "8" since before A4988 introduced); adds a wiring diagram
    • A4988 page includes near top a "note" re drop-in replacement for A4983
  • May 18 (what was this?)
  • Nov 11 (in category page) <d< Dec 5 (in "discontinued" page): A4983 modules discontinued
    • A4983 product photos unchanged from first to last apart from adding wiring diagram after A4988 introduced
• 2012
  • Mar 4 <d< Apr13: "note" re 4983 replacement moved to bottom of page
  • July 11 <d< Sep 5: "note" re 4983 has "(and now discontinued)" added
• 2013
  • May 22 <d< Jun 21: A4988 top photos updated from A4983 ic to A4988 with date code 1247
• 2017
  • Jan 1 <d< Jan 17: A4988 current sense resistors changed from green 0.05 Ohm to white 0.068 Ohm parts; text added to description with images including side-by-side top views of old/green/0.05 module with 1247 ic date code and new/white/0.068 module with 1608 date code; schematic updated re old/new current sense resistor values; other images remain same with 1247 dated ic
• 2019
  • Mar 16 <d< Apr 9: all product photos (other than side-by-side) updated from old/green to new/white/0.068 Ohm sense resistors and 1826 ic date code (top photos) and bottom photo with US quarter updated from (c)2009 to (c)2011

I'm puzzled by the (c)2011 PCB. The only things I see that changed on the bottom are the path of one end of a trace to a relocated via, and the absence of pour-to-pour connecting via. The absent via is (or isn't) hidden under the Vref pot. It seems to me that the relocated via should move from under the Vref pot to just enough exposed from under the pot for the edge to be visible. I don't see any exposed edge of that via appearing in any of the board top photos from 2012, 2016, or 2018.

Ok, now can shake this out of my head?