Rugged: Thanks for the quick reply. And while I don't doubt that C makes things easier, I still prefer down-to-the-bits assembly language for these kinds of projects, primarily for personal reasons. Besides, while I know C, I don't know C++, and really have no desire to learn it (not planning on entering the programming job market any time soon). All that class stuff, etc., gives me a headache.
So it sounds like AVR-GCC is what a guy would want to use. Is there any documentation on this available before buying the product?