> questions:
>
> 1. at what frequency should PIC2 be running in order for incoming
> packets to be correctly
>    captured and buffered i.e. is there a ratio in frequency btwn sender
> and receiver?
>
From what I understand, any there are no ratio requirements.  Any frequency
high enough to allow you enough time to receive the data and process it
should be ok.

> 2. is it better to poll or use interrupts?

Polling should be ok as long as you do it often enough so as to not miss any
received bytes.  Interrupts have the benefit of letting you know precisely
when data has been received and needs to be processed.  When using
software(instead of hardware USART) interrupts are probably the most
reliable way to receive the data.  I have successfully received data at
9600baud on 16f84 running at 4Mhz using RB0/int to detect the start bit and
then using TMR0 ints to receive each data bit.  This leaves plenty of
time(>50%) for main level code to process the data.  Otherwise, all time
will be spent(wasted) using delay loops between data bits.  If you would
like to see my code, please let me know.

>
> 3. any other issues that one should consider?
>
> TIA
> Seyi
> p.s. i'm using the HI-TECH C Compiler

Good luck, I hope this helps you in some way.

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