9:43:01mrcomYou'll probablly fry it. Even if not, I bet the voltages are inverted (real RS-232 has neg. volt for "1" and positive for "0", the opposite of normal).
9:46:58mrcomThe pins on the CP2102 can only take +5.8V/-0.3. The -9 would definitely zap your adapter, and if you're unfortunate the USB port on the PC.
9:47:47mrcomSo you were totally correct--you need another adapter :)
10:01:49mrcomIf you get a RS-232 compatible adapter, and plug the serial end into the old pc with a null-modem cable, then you can run a serial terminal program on the new PC to watch for Mezzano boot messages.
10:02:48mrcomIf you see those, then you can pull in fitzsim's serial-port patches and maybe get a REPL through the serial port.
15:38:37fitzsimiska: My connections are as follows:
15:39:17fitzsimiska: controlling-workstation USB host <-> USB-to-DB-9-Male serial adapter [1] <-> DB-9-Female to DB-9-Female null modem cable [2] <-> DB-9-Male port on ThinkPad dock
15:39:45fitzsim1. I have this one: https://tripplite.eaton.com/keyspan-high-speed-usb-to-serial-adapter~USA19HS but it can be any normal USB-to-DB-9-Male adapter.
15:40:33fitzsim2. For example, https://www.gridconnect.com/products/rs232-female-to-female-db9-null-modem-adapter or it can be in cable form.
15:41:37fitzsimas long as you stay all DB-9 for the serial connections, I do not believe you have to worry about voltage levels
15:59:19iskafitzsim: thanks, I'm getting the stuff
16:00:54iskaby the way, my big image is actually crashing in the early boot, it might be because of paging