finally got the mini arduinos, tested with a blinking LED!
so small!
simple setup with diagrams found on arduino site.
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardMini
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoMiniUSB
nicely mounts on bread board.
when program,
remember the chip is atmega168!! (different from the regular arduino with atmega8)
excited to build a perf board for it 
Filed under: pcomp
[...] http://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoMiniUSB http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Learning/ArduinoMini http://janeoh.wordpress.com/2006/11/09/mini-arduino/ (thanks, Jane!) [...]