[Techtalk] communicating with a switch

[Hamster]

Hi,

I have a have a cisco switch that I want to communicate with using the
console cable.

The console cable is plugged into COM2 (I believe this is ttyS1) of my linux
box. The settings it needs are 8N1 no flow control.

Right. So how do I now actually communicate with it? I'm ashamed to say I
only know how to get it working using the win Hyperterm programme.

Back on my linux box, I've installed the programme minicom, but I cant
work out how to tell it to use a direct connection rather than talk
through a modem.

Can anyone shed some light on how to do this? Either through minicom or a
completely different method.

Thanks!

Hamster