I finally managed to do it.
the secret here lies in the fact that the device uses TTL levels on the
serial port, but these are inverted.
also, the fact that my box's serial port was particularly fussy didn't
help one bit ;D

So here's the trick

to connect this thing to a PC serial port reliably, you first need to
invert the TTL signals with something like a 74LS06, then use the Max232
to invert and up the signals to RS232 specs.

Thanks to all that gave insight and advice (in particular Michael Rigby
Jones that gave this exact hint).

Sincerely

Amaury

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