The evolution since the first ARS card that appears in 1996 is the following:
RCI PCB - Rotor Control Interface (1996-2001)
This PCB starts selling in 1996, after several years of testing with a several prototypes. It was in the market until 2001 that is redesigned and renamed as RCI-SE.
As an anecdote, in those years the PCs had the serial ports always occupied by TNC’s, modems, CAT control for the first transceivers that already included them, and that was the reason to use the parallel port, since it was easy to add a second port to the computer (up to 3 LPT could be set)
RCI-SE PCB - Rotor Control Interface - Second Edition (2001-2011)
RCI-USB - ARS-USB (since 2011)
With the disappearance of the parallel ports, it is decided to redesign the ARS hardware (based on printer port) and it is decided to use the best option available and that is to use a USB port. This USB port is detected by the computer as a serial port and integration with other programs would be immediate. This new PCB will be called ARS-USB and was available since 2011. In addition it is opted to emulate or support the same commands as Yaesu GS232 (a very popular as well as expensive Yaesu rotor control interface), so any program that supports the GS232 would work with the ARS-USB without any change.
