Thanks for all the help guys...but here's a new wrinkle.

I asked my buddy to lend me the remote and the sync cable for a day or two prior to installation (which is planned for Saturday) so I could play around with the software and get an idea of how to work with it (and also be sure I had the right adapter for working on a modern computer).

His response: "I don't have the cable."

sssssssssigh.

He sent me a picture of the port on the remote, which doesn't look like a serial port to me - looks more like maybe a 3.5mm jack? I'm guessing this is a proprietary cable and not the kind of thing I could easily pick up at Radio Shack or whatever, or make myself?