Hi Folks, Didn't seem to get any newbies last night - people pretty much came with their supplies and got right to work, which is awesome in terms of making progress on projects, but doesn't really make the tent any bigger. So here are a few links to references and instructions for making an board from components, with a few variations: This one is the most important! Know the pinouts of your chips and brainstorm on how all your components will be physically arranged: http://softsolder.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/arduino-vs-atmega168-chip-pin… Here is a pdf of how to assemble the Real Bare Bones Board, which is $10-$15 per kit depending on how many you order, introducing all the components and showing a schematic of how the chip is powered and connected to the programming header. Warning - there are different header pinouts for different programmers so check to make sure your pinouts are compatible! http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0038/9582/files/RBBB_Instructions_06.pdf?1… Instructions with more info on connecting the programmer, this time on a breadboard: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Standalone Special Bonus: Dual Core board with 2 chips sharing the same resonator to synchronize their cycles - parallel processing, anybody? http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,7894.0.html I personally have a number of breadboard controllers in use for various applications since it's much cheaper. You only need one programmer, rather than putting a USB TTL serial chip in each project where it will only be used when you reprogram. Also, for some reason out of the 2 times I've soldered a ship to a protoboard, it hasn't worked either time. Could be the late hour that I tend to get to this task, or fear of commitment, or overuse of solder, or anything. Anyway, a breadboard is a cheap and repurposable controller substrate that I recommend for most applications unless you want to do a production run, or expect high gee forces or other wire-dislodging effects. You can even hot-glue things in place on the board, and most breadboards have adhesive on the back for easy mounting inside an enclosure or on any convenient surface. happy hacking, hol