Setting up Terminal (talk-back?)

Hi. I am very new to Arduino, and just learning how to set it up. I've tried several internet guides, with different levels of success.

I want to be able to have a simple main function where an LED would blink on and off, and mixed inside would be the "cin" and "cout" equivalents coming back to my computer. What is the best way to do it? I don't know how to set up Serial.print properly and "printf" makes the board stop.

Background: I followed http://android.serverbox.ch/?p=394 and I have a blinking LED from Eclipse Juno on Ubuntu through a USB cable to a UNO. But when I try doing anything like adding any of the above functions, it doesn't work. Does anyone have an advice?

http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,38653.0.html

Another good terminal basics could be the Show Info sketch:
http://arduino.cc/playground/Main/ShowInfo

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