Not sure what you're confused about regarding the procedure detailed in the link you posted, but that is what you've got to do in order to recover a Pix password.
As for wanting to 'connect to the pix with a laptop via a cross over cable' I'm not sure what that will accomplish, as you'll need console (terminal 0) access in order to run the procedure.
Unfortunately there isn't really a way to simplify the procedure, it is what it is.
Carl