[foobert]

unless you want to bitbang it, forget using rx1 and rx2 as serial ports. the 18f8520 has two hardware usarts. one is the programming port and the other is available as the rx and tx pins at the top of the analog/digital section on the controller. note that these two pins cannot be used for analog input, but can be configured either for digital i/o or for serial i/o. to use either port to talk to a laptop you will need to convert the ttl signal levels to rs232.