stoopkid:
You could also just put it on the breadboard and connect the ground, reset, rx and tx to the arduino board that way you dont have to keep putting the chip in and out of the breadbard and arduino.Also if you are doing anything time related you are still going to want to use a crystal and you'll need a bootloader meant for external 8mhz. If no time, then nevermind.
Is it safe to assume that anything involving the UART would be considered "time related"? I was planning on using an 8MHZ external crystal for timing. Is it a completely different bootloader that is needed or can I just modify the setting of the fuse bits in the boards.txt file in the hardware folder? Couldn't I just compile the program as if I am using an arduino pro running at 3.3V and 8 MHZ and then program it through an old arduino board that still uses the FTDI chip (if using the FTDI chip versus the Atmega16U2 on the Uno even matters)? I really don't understand how all of these parts on the arduino talk to each other.