Hi Terry,

The best book I have ever seen for learning about PIC serial communications in general & the hardware USART - is Serial Communications by Roger L. Stevens from Square-1. It's not for the 18F series, but it is an excellent book for anyone using 14-bit parts.

We carry this book, and you can also find it at Melabs, Amazon.com or at the Square-1 website at http://www.sq-1.com

There's also a decent book specifically for the 18F452 by John B. Peatman titled "Embedded Design with the PIC18F452 Microcontroller", and chapter 18 addresses the USART.

I also recommend reading the PIC18C Reference Manual from Microchip. It's nowhere near the "idiots guide", but definitely a recommended read if you're working with the 18F series.

The hardware USART really isn't all that hard to learn. Just tinker with a few experiments & code examples, read the ref manual & datasheet, and you'll get the hang of it...;o}