If you want to use an inexpensive ATmega168 or ATmega328p for your project, but you want the simplicity of the arduino code and codebender, this tutorial will guide you through!
A brand new ATmega microcontroller does not come preconfigured to use with Arduino code. So to use one of these you normally need a high cost ATMEL ISP programmer to burn the Arduino bootloader into your ATmega. Thankfully there is an alternative way, using an existing Arduino board as an ISP.
Step 1: What you will need
-A breadboard
-An Arduino board (i.e. Arduino UNO)
-The ATmega microcontroller you want to program (ATmega 168/328)
-An FTDI basic board or FTDI cable
-A 16MHz crystal
-A 10k resistor
-Two 18 to 22 pF (ceramic) capacitors
-An 100 nF (ceramic) capacitor
The Arduino board will be needed only once, to burn the bootloader to the ATmega and the FTDI will be needed each time you want to reprogram your ATmega.
Step 2: Connecting the ATmega to the Arduino
Step 3: Program your Arduino
(If you do not have the codebender plugin in your browser, under the code below, you will see a download/install link)
For more detail: Program an ATmega168/328 with codebender
