Any servo that takes step/dir inputs (position mode,) should work just like a stepper. Looks like Yaskawa calls them PULS and SIGN inputs. You will need to tune a servo though to get decent performance.
I don't think there are any industry standard connection types. That 51 pin cable was probably made specifically for interfacing Yaskawa drives to a specific machine controller type. Generally you'll have to wire things yourself.
Most DIY'ers who want to go beyond parallel port and step/dir with linuxCNC use Mesa IO cards. They can use torque or velocity mode (you tune all the servos in LinuxCNC instead of in the drives then,) and have nice breakout boards integrated for not too much money.