thanks to you all, i've now got it to work, it was wrongly wired cable. the wiring i'm using now (thanks to Jukka Marin for the tip): db 25 din 8 2 (TxD) ---- 5 (RxD) 3 (RxD) ---- 3 (TxD) 7 (GND) ---- 4 (GND) /- 1 (DTR) +- 2 (CTS) \- 7 (DCD) thanks, dillo