i have tried uproject, i changed the startup screen and displayed some stuff on it, then i made some custom characters... i tried changing the baud rate, but it didnt seem to work. i have since changed it to ttl by desoldering the rs232 contacts and soldering across the ttl ones.. i checked them with a mm and everything seems to be right.. it still displays my startup screen and displays other weird characters when the pic program tells it to display the "hello world".

my setup has both the pic and the display running off of one 1A 5V reg, and a 6V battery. so it shares the same ground and the same power.

danny