So i have one of these: http://media.digikey.com/photos/Lite%20On%20Photos/LTC-4627JS,LTC-4727JS,LTC-4627JF,LTC-4727JF,LTC-4627JR,LTC-4727JR,FRONT.jpg
my led has 12 pins, only 11 of which id use ( i dont need the decimal). My question is, i want to reduce the amount of pins im going to need to use ( since if i plugged it into my arduino it would take up 11 digital i/o pins). So can i buy an IC such as a atmega128/328 and put that on my arduino.. boot load it with gcc compiler, and then take that ic off and use it on a prototype board with code ive put on it? the pins on an ic such as a atmega are mostly I/O pins are they not? or is there just an easier way to do this?
Also, if youve read any of my previous posts you'd know that im a big phat noob so explanations that a baby could understand is very much encouraged.
EDIT: I moved this to the hardware thread -> http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1251699064