ATMEL AVR USB using Gentoo Linux

This entry is intended to document my development of an Atmel AVR Atmega8 USB interface using Gentoo Linux.
I've installed "avrdude" and the avrusb utilities. Here are a few links:
AVR Setup
http://www.ladyada.net/learn/avr/setup-unix.html

AVR DUDE
http://www.ladyada.net/learn/avr/avrdude.html

I'm presently using a protostack.com usb interface and a protostack development board.

This is my current error:cwc@tma ~/avrdude $ avrdude -c usbasp -p atmega8 -U flash:w:test_leds.hex

avrdude: error: programm enable: target doesn't answer. 1
avrdude: initialization failed, rc=-1
Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
this check.


avrdude done. Thank you.

I'm going to check my solder job on the dev boards.