@realtime:
I use avrdude and a lpt-programmer for programming purpose. Actually it works quite well. Sometimes the checksums were not quite correct. But that's not an issue. Never had to complain about problems, you are faced to.
Concerning the incidence when you plugged the cam into the wrong header, i don't think this should be a problem. At least it should have no effect when you try to flash the microcontroller.
What do you mean by GRAM ? Thats new to me.
Unfortunately there is no FIFO Buffer for the frames, like there is one on the CmuCam3. Means, that you have to process the data lines at the same time, the data is sent. The Memory of the Atmega is too small to implement a FIFO Buffer, for example an interrupt driven. This makes image processing, if i am not mistaken, difficult. Can some confirm that ?
@all:
How many people are working on it at all ?