Abstract: A cable, a manufacturing method, and a usage method, each facilitate product development, testing, and debugging. An illustrative embodiment of a cable manufacturing method includes: connecting a first end connector plug to a first data recovery and re-modulation (DRR) device and to a first controller device; and providing a bypass switch that operates under control of the first controller device to merge the command bus with the configuration bus, thereby enabling direct access to the configuration bus by the first host interface port. The first end connector plug has: a set of dedicated pins for conveying mufti-lane data streams between the first DRR device and a first host interface port; and additional pins for a two-wire command bus conveying communications between the first host interface port and a first controller device, the first controller device operable to configure the first DRR device via a two-wire configuration bus.

Abstract: A cable, a manufacturing method, and a usage method, each facilitate product development, testing, and debugging. An illustrative embodiment of a cable manufacturing method includes: connecting a first end connector plug to a first data recovery and re-modulation (DRR) device and to a first controller device; and providing a bypass switch that operates under control of the first controller device to merge the command bus with the configuration bus, thereby enabling direct access to the configuration bus by the first host interface port. The first end connector plug has: a set of dedicated pins for conveying mufti-lane data streams between the first DRR device and a first host interface port; and additional pins for a two-wire command bus conveying communications between the first host interface port and a first controller device, the first controller device operable to configure the first DRR device via a two-wire configuration bus.