Accessing the Nortel 4548GT-PWR (4500-series) management console

The Nortel 4548GT-PWR (Nortel 4500-series) switch has a DB-9 male port on the front that says CONSOLE. According to the manual, the switch's management console uses "CLI Quickstart". That's fine and good, but I found I had to first connect before I could enter any commands. Here's how I (eventually) managed to connect to the console port:

1. obtained a STRAIGHT-THROUGH serial cable with FEMALE DB-9 connectors on 
   BOTH ENDS.
2. used that cable to connect a Linux machine to the console port on the
   switch.
3. set "minicom" to the correct serial device (e.g. /dev/ttyS0)
4. set the serial line parameters to 9600-8-N-1 (that and only that)
5. made sure hardware flow control is OFF.
6. made sure the switch is powered up.
7. pressed CTRL/Y in 'minicom' - the console prompt appeared.

All of these steps had to be completed - if any of them were left out, it wouldn't work.