How to make an E2T Debug Cable

The E2T Debug cable, sometimes referred to as a TAPI cable, turned out to not be as readily available as I was led to believe.

However, "rolling your own" is quite easy. All you will need is a female DB9 connector and an APPLE (Laser Writer) printer cable that terminates in a male 8-pin mini-din connector. The 8-pin mini-din looks a lot like a PS-2 mouse/keyboard cable, but it's not. The PS-2 cables are only 6-pin and for this we need an 8-pin connector. Simply whack off one end of the printer cable (or cut it in half and you can make two cables).

The pin-out of the 8-pin mini-din connector, as viewed looking at the end of the plug with the pins facing you and the 'flat' facing down is as follows:
-2-1-
-5-4-3-
-6-7-8-
All we will use from the mini-din is pins 3, 4 and 5
Ohm-out or tone-out the cable to identify the wires connected to these 3 pins. Connect them to the DB-9 female connector as follows:

DB9 pin 2 connect to mini-din pin 5 (RXD)
DB9 pin 3 connect to mini-din pin 3 (TXD)
DB9 pin 5 connect to mini-din pin 4 (GND)

You're done.

As of Jan 2008 Mitel no longer shows a part number for the individual TAPI cable, but it is still available in lots of 10 under p/n 9132-000-100-NA. (Tnx Lundah for this update)

[color red]Update July 2008:[/color] The secure Telnet on port 2000 for LX controllers no longer appears to work. This cable is now even more important. The E2T Debug cable connects to the controller via the underside. Just pop off the silver dollar-sized cap on the bottom of the controller near the edge. (Tnx kwbMitel for this update)