software serial with MAX202

Trying to set up a software serial using MAX202 processor on this adapter: http://www.robotshop.com/productinfo.aspx?pc=RB-Dfr-165&lang=en-US

I'm following the directions in this tutorial: http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoSoftwareRS232

So far no luck! I have tried a few different digital IO pins including pins 0 (RX) and 1 (TX). They all send nonsense to the port using the software serial program from the tutorial.

HOWEVER, using the Serial.write and Serial.read() functions works fine when I connect the adapter pins RXD --> digital IO pin 0; TXD --> digital IO pin 1.

So is there a bug in the tutorial code? Why doesn't it work on the digital IO pins?

Why not dispense with all that nonsense and use SoftwareSerial, just like the HardwareSerial instance (Serial)?

Thank you.