Kevin Traas has issued a helpful update to this FAQ that contains a major correction to the information on mknod. He is also standing in as a new source for cables for the device.
The information here was obtained by begging many people for help. Unfortunately, I have forgotten their names due to a pressing need for disk space on my Netcom account. :-( Nonetheless, I thank them very much for their assistance when things looked blackest. This is my way of paying some of that back.