[Xastir] ancient history question: HK232

[mark]

I have an ancient Heathkit HK232 that I'd like to use for my APRS setup
(a home station).  Can Xastir be interfaced successfully with the
HK232?  

The difficulty I've had attempting this is the cute auto-baud 'feature'
of the HK232.  At power-up, the HK232 is set for serial comms of 1200
7E1.  But at 1200, it can require several asterisk character entries
separated by 1-second intervals to get the HK232 to recognize the baud
speed.

I've tried modifying a tnc-startup configuration file with asterisk
entries separated with CR/LF, and proper baud settings in the Xastir
serial settings, but I'm wearing thin on patience.  The HK232 has a
tendency to go off in space when I attempt to start it up with Xastir.
I've also tried performing a manual serial startup with the HK232, and
then switch over to Xastir, but that confuses the HK232 and I have to
power cycle the thing... which puts me back at square-one again in
trying to set up the HK232.

Of course, I COULD go out and buy something new... but thought I'd try
the civil-war era electronic memorabilia first.

And that's where I'm at with the HK. Just wondering if someone has had
success with this before.

Comments, thoughts, further elaborations needed as to what I'm doing?

Many thanks,

- Mark
N4CMB