Philip, you wrote:-
>        Is it possible to get the PIC16c84 to output serial data directly?
>I've been trying it, and it seems to send out the 20 higher than the ASCII
>character I send, but that isn't consistant.  I've tried the Parallax,
>and Microchip source.
>I have TX connected to a pin on port A, and i've tried -5v on all of the
>pins (It doesn't send anything without it).  I have it hooked up to a dumb
>terminal, and all of the settings are correct.  Does anybody have any
>ideas what's wrong, or any working tested source for the PIC16c84?

Check this out, it's taken directly from a working program. It's written for
Parallax's PASMX compiler. Sorry I don't have it in standard Mchip code but
it might give you an idea of where you're going wrong. I don't use a
negative power source and it works just fine connecting to an ordinary PC
clone via 2 meters of cable.
Also, remember that RA.4 is an open collector output and won't work properly
without some external support components.

All the best.

Dave.

;Serial RS232 via a 22K input resistor routines.
;Can freely use volatile registers: TempC, TempD, TempE, HexDec, R0;
;as this all runs with interrupts disabled.
SerialTest      call    SavePorts
                setb    RP0             ;Select Page 1
                mov     !RB,#11111101b  ;all but RB.1 are inputs
                clrb    RP0             ;Select Page 0
                clrb    SerOut          ;'MARK' RS232 logic 1 = -0v.
:test           jb      SerIn,:skip ;if input high then RS232 not connected.
                call    RXbyte          ;get command letter into TempE.
                cjne    TempE,#'T',:rx  ;Should we transmit config values ?
                call    RXbyte          ;get address of byte to transmit
                mov     FSR,TempE       ;address of indirect source in RAM
                mov     TempE,INDIRECT  ;load TempE with the byte to send
                call    TXbyte          ;transmit one byte
                jmp     :test
:rx             cjne    TempE,#'R',:test ;Should we receive new config values ?
                call    RXbyte          ;get address of byte to receive
                mov     FSR,TempE       ;save address
                call    RXbyte          ;receive one byte of data
                mov     INDIRECT,TempE  ;store the received byte in RAM
                setb    KeyFlag.Config  ;indicate EEPROM needs updating.
                jmp     :test
:skip           clrb    Options.Lockout ;Clear Lockout indicator normally.
                sb      LockInput       ;if input high then not locked out.
                setb    Options.Lockout ;if input low then indicate lockout.
                call    RestorePorts
                ret

;Receive a single byte into TempE.
RXbyte          jnb     SerIn,RXbyte    ;Detect start bit = +5v.
                call    HalfBitDelay    ;wait half a bit.
                jnb     SerIn,RXbyte    ;if start bit bad, go back and wait.
                mov     TempD,#8        ;Set counter to receive 8 bits.
                clr     TempE   ;Clear received byte to get ready for new one.
:rxbit          call    BitDelay        ;wait one bit time.
                movb    C,/SerIn        ;put inverted bit into carry.
                rr      TempE           ;rotate bit in Carry into receive byte.
                djnz    TempD,:rxbit    ;keep going for 8 bits.
                call    BitDelay        ;position into middle of stop bit.
                ret                     ;return with byte in TempE.

;Transmit a single byte from TempE.
TXbyte          mov     TempD,#8        ;Eight bits in the byte
                setb    SerOut
                call    BitDelay        ;send start bit = +ve voltage.
:txbit          rr      TempE           ;rotate bits right into carry, 0 first.
                movb    SerOut,/C       ;output inverted bit
                call    BitDelay
                djnz    TempD,:txbit    ;round the loop for 8 bits worth.
                clrb    SerOut          ;stop bit = -ve voltage.
                call    BitDelay        ;one stop bit for 8N1.
                ret

;Bit time delay = 8 + 4 * n, where n=bit delay number.
;calculate as = 4/1843200 * (4 * n + 8) seconds.
BitDelay        mov     TempC,#46       ;2400 baud with 1.8432MHz clock.
DelayLoop       nop                     ;delay 1 clock
                djnz    TempC,DelayLoop ;total loop = 4 clocks
                ret

;Half a bit delay at start.
;Time wasted = 9 + 4 * n, where n=~1/2 bit delay number.
;calculate as = 4/1843200 * (4 * n + 9) seconds.
HalfBitDelay    mov     TempC,#22       ;2400 baud with 1.8432MHz clock.
                jmp     DelayLoop