@condemned
Thanks for your article, I really enjoyed reading it. As westfw said, lots of good technical info 
Atmel seem to be having major problems with there samples system lately. I tried for 3 months to get samples for a work project of their 644 and a Xmegas ATXMEGA256A3 by using their web site but with no luck. Finally after complaining to their UK office I finally got samples of the 644, but still waiting for the Xmega 