I've got a shiny new ATmegaXX8 board and wanting to jump in playing. But I really don't like the idea of soldering on an LED just to do my first blinky-light program. So... I'd like to solder on a bunch of headers to the breakout and prototyping area to in effect create a customized breadboard. then I could plug different components in, and use M/M jumpers to tie it together.

Make sense?

Where would I look for the through-hole bits to create this? I'm imagining it would be something like a really long strip that I'd break into sections and solder on.

Any suggestions on bits that are so common that it warrants just soldering it directly in place? I've already got the header on for the ISP. Crystal+caps? Cap in C3 or C4 location? What values?

Thanks, having fun!

my board has ZIF socket on it, which turns out that it obscures quite a number of holes. would be nice to note this on product page. not a problem for me at this stage. anyway, I can only get to 2 of the 3 holes on each side of the chip. so quantity 2 of (14x2 at 0.1" spacing)
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=A26488-ND

and then about 25 of these (4x1 at 0.1" spacing). wouldn't fill all the prototyping holes, but would give a lot of possibilities. and sticking with the same item gets price down.
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=A26416-ND

Well, it has been done:
http://www.friday.com/bbum/2008/03/14/avr-prototype-board-ready-for-prototyping-pinball-flippers/

But honestly, if it's a breadboard that you want-- easy to pull stuff in and out --why not just use a breadboard and wire up the AVR there?

And, if you want to do a blinkylight program, just leave the LED in-- almost any project that you'll want to do is ultimately better with an LED on it. If you write a program subsequently that you really need *every* I/O pin for, and none of them can be going to an LED, then you can desolder it. But solder isn't forever.

Good point. I want to use your board for this since it is so nicely laid out, it is labeled well, has the programming connector, etc. And it is just neat! I like how it turned out in the link you provided, thanks.