I use a Sparkfun FTDI BASIC for my 3.3V Pro-Mini, 5V Pro-Mini and breadboarded ATmega328 chips. It works great. no problems.
Nice. Have one... rarely used, however, but always works.
i am always amazed at the number of people who still like to put that usb/tll converter on every board. talk about redundancy.
Yes! And so cheap in today's marketplace... if one takes a few minutes to look for a bargain.
Lots of options. I just did not want a newbie to run out and buy a surface mount 16U2 or 32U4 and a 328P-PU just to copy a UNO design in detail. Deviating down the forerunners to UNO before the 16U2 is a better approach, IMO.
Ray