Michael,

I would submit that using a protoboard (of the type you have pictured) can be a very cost effective way of developing peripheral circuits for interfacing to a µ-controller. But I would also caution Mr. McDowell to take seriously the admonitions in this thread concerning putting the µ-controller on one. It can be done, I've done it. I have also used the single capacitor reset pulse circuit. But never reliably (in either case). If you're just trying to learn, try the breadboard. And try using a single cap and internal resistor for your reset pulse. It will probably work well enough for you to see a few of the signals on your oscilloscope. And more importantly, failures are often the best learning experiences. But if you're really trying to develope something that will work reliably, buy a supervisor circuit and an evaluation board. Limit your protoboard use to periferal circuits that aren't sensitive to digital noise.
Again, there's my two cents worth. Good luck.