Hi Thomas,

I can think of two possible problems here, one very likely and
one less likely.

The likely reason would be that you are running a slightly older
version. Guide 8, as originally written, had problems with the
USB-to-RS232 gadgets. This has been fixed:

http://www.projectpluto.com/update8b.htm#usb2com

The less likely reason would be a wrong baud rate. That rate
defaults to 2400, though, so you should be okay. To check it,
you need to look at 'startup.mar'; the necessary information
(which is not at _all_ obvious!) is given here:

http://www.projectpluto.com/mar_fmt.htm#49

-- Bill