Quote Originally Posted by Scampy View Post
I've found an alternative for now, but it means a lot more work... ESP8622 I think it's called. A wi-fi module which will either mean getting the PC software to work over the network, or re-write the application as a web page / app ... all good fun !

This then frees up the serial EUART on the PIC to handle the display driver board
The ESP8266 itself also requires a serial port to communicate, so that will not solve your problem.

I dont know about using the hardware serial port and a software one together, but 2 software ports (change the debug definitions on the fly in your code) definitely work. So, if you can live with the overhead, that would be the way to go.