Hi Rich,

I will do breadboard I think. I have a low profile metal case 20mhz crystal. Do you have an opinion on cap value?
22pF has worked for me for years with just about every frequency crystal I've ever used with
a PIC. Never had a single oscillator problem yet (knock on wood)..;o}

Is it better to go higher or lower if I don't have correct values with me.
On average higher is better, but it does increase the oscillator start-up time. I would err
on the side of whatever I had that was closest to the mfg recommended cap value.

Also, is it necessary to ground the case of the crystal?
No.

Also, EasyHID schematic has a 1m resistor in between OSC1 and OSC2. Do you know if this is a good idea?
That totally depends on the crystal you have. I rarely add this resistor, but I've been using
the same crystals with PICs for a LONG time. Digi-Key part #X439 for 20MHz.

On the same board, with the same crystal setup, how does it run with things like serial
communications between your PC, blinking a few LEDs, etc?