serial port mitsub_fd

trying to get the mitsub_vfd  component to come to life on a fresh installation of 2.8.2 LCNC on a Dell optiplex (old enough to have a real serial port).
- port set to COM1 in BIOS
- sudo dmesg | grep tty reports
   [    0.277742] console [tty0] enabled
   [    2.367467] 00:03: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4, base_baud = 115200) is a 16550A
   [    2.388614] 0000:00:03.3: ttyS1 at I/O 0xecb8 (irq = 17, base_baud = 115200) is a 16550A
-  setserial /dev/ttyS0 reports
      /dev/ttyS0, UART: 16550A, Port: 0x03f8, IRQ: 4
- trying to load the component via halcmd:
     loadusr   -Wn   spindle   mitsub_vfd -p /dev/ttyS0  spindle=01
 responds
    /dev/ttyS0 9600
   ERROR : mitsub_vfd - No serial interface found at /dev/ttyS0
   <stdin>:1: mitsub_vfd exited without becoming ready

-no change in behavior whether vfd is connected  or not (I assume a not-found condition would preclude any handshaking  with   connected device).

what's the next step?

thanks
-ldw

i have the same problem.