Direct connect devices such as cathode ray tube displays are coupled to a communications controller through a long cable and a flexible line adapter package. Apparatus in the controller generates a clocking signal which is applied to a Universal Synchronous Receiver Transmitter (USRT) and to the direct connect device. The USRT receives data from a microprocessor and transmits a stream of data signals synchronized to the clocking signal. The data signals and the clocking signals are received by the direct connect device. The clocking signals strobe the data signals approximately in the center of a data pulse since transmission delays for the data signals and the clocking signals are approximately equal.