Arduino serial port programming I bought an Arduino-on-breadboard kit. I have several PCs with serial ports, and now I'm being told I need a USB-to-serial converter. I thought I was ready to start uploading sketches, so how can I do this?

I'm able to understand serial communications and am capable of wiring a MAX232 chip into a breaduino if necessary, but I'm not sure it will work, so to save some time I'm asking, mostly because I was unable to figure it out with Google searches alone.

PS: I also have a stk500, but then I would be out of the easiness of using Arduino sketches and the programming language. I need the fastest route to prototyping/testing my sketches.
An RS232 port wired via a level converter (as you mentioned max232) and a 1uF capacitor between RTS and "Arduino reset pin" Getting started with Arduino.

The capacitor is to trigger a reset on the Arduino so the bootloader kicks in and awaits a "Arduino sketch" via the serial port.

Your setup is AKA "Arduino Bare bone".