Thanks to all who responded. I did get the Sparc <=> i386 via serial port to
work - it helps to plug the cable into the rs232 port instead of the
parallel port (what?! - it was dark.).

As to the adapter discrepancy: I noticed that if I bring the Sparc up -
either with cu or Kermit -  and try to edit a file with vi, the display gets
bungled: all previously screen printed lines have a "~" in position one. I
have a second serial cable with modifiable ends and will try building a null
modem cable per the Serial Port Primer instructions and see if it helps.

Cheers,
Beaker