Here is a good way to find source code and code bits that were designed for nerdkits, link www.google.com/search?q=libnerdkits searches Google only for "libnerdkits" (I assume it's a NerdKit made directory located in firmware of the Atmel bootloader). You will see sites NerdKits.com, Pastie.org (snippets), PasteBin.com (for scriptlets) and a few others. When I collect all the various C+ codes, it only totals up to about 15 projects (some that I cannot get to work as they are not complete or working).

QUESTIONS:

Do you know a place I can get more source codes to play with and test on my NerdKit?

Can I use codes from other AVR kits (Adafruit uses a Arduino boot rom making it a Arduino clone) with a NerdKit? I am assuming there are ways to port Adafruit2AVR, but no software for this...

Is there a pure AVR programming language that will work without interaction with NerdKit's firmware and just use what was supplied by Atmel.com?

I asked these questions to support@nerdkits.com but they never acknowledged them with their reply so I posted on http://www.nerdkits.com/forum/thread/192/ where you can post any ideas. CompuMike in Arduino forums made it sound like NerdKit staff will answer all your questions, maybe they included the answers for people like me somewhere in cyber space and I am missing the boat? The main reason I was willing to spend 80 bucks on a kit consisting of 30 dollars worth of electronics was because CompuMike gave good ratings for NerdKit for newbies. If I knew I was going to me on my own, I could have just ordered the parts and programmed an Arduino clone firmware myself or bought a preprogrammed Adafruit chip for 4 dollars and made my own (or bought a kit for less than 10 bux) serial reader/writer and bought a AVR ISP programmer for less than 20 bux on Ebay (nerdkit doesn't even include a ISP programmer, every newbie needs an ISP programmer to get the full experience, you wouldn't buy an only computer that had no CD/DVD/Floppy). I already had majority of the electronics here at home like bread board, resistors, voltage regulators, LEDs, switches, wire and various sensors (but I didn't have a tested LCD screen that was already set up to work with an AVR kit). Maybe in 4 days I have already advanced enough that I am no longer a newbie/n00b?

Earlier today I found out that this CompuMike is actually one of the NerdKit staff who has been going around to competition's websites and posing as a satisfied customer from NerdKits. He has been posting stuff that makes him seem like he is part of the Arduino groupie scene and says things like NerdKits has great customer support and talks in Audrino clone & alternative AVR hobby kit conversations telling about the great do it yourself NerdKit. When I first bought the kit, I actually thought it was an Audriono clone but soon discovered that NerdKit has it's own firmware made custom by those MIT students! Oh well, worst comes to worst, I will just load an Audrino clone bootloader on a new ATmega168 (or upgrade to a ATmega328) with an ISP programmer.

ANSWERS:

<hevans> Nerdful: just for clarification. If you have an in system programmer, you can upload code that uses the libnerdkits libararies. The libnerdkits libraries are not tied to the bootloader in any way, they are just compiled against your code, and they contain some useful functions.
<hevans> the only difference (between using a bootloader and not) is that the .hex file that is being copied onto your MCU directly by the programmer in the ISP case, and through the bootloader in the bootloader case
<hevans> there are some space savings you get if you do not use the whole libnerdkits libraries, and of course there is the satisfaction you get from writing the functionality yourself, which might be the most important part of all.