Björn,
Adam was right to suggest the serial line option, however with vmware this you won't need a "real" cable. Get the modified minicom-version that allows to listen on unix-sockets as well, and hence to communicate with the virtual serial line of vmware. The unixsocket-enabled minicom should be available from Adams OS-debian server. Adam, maybe you can give him the correct pointer.
Regards, Jork