Print_server/POS895_POS896_integration_notes.md

POS895 / POS896 printer support: feasibility notes

Date: 2026-09-02, updated 2026-09-03 after a hardware session. Status: several of the open questions below are now answered, and the vendor discovery protocol is reverse engineered and reimplemented. See Pos895Test/.

Source material reviewed: D:\Inspectron\James\epson\POS895\POS895&896 SDK\ (Linux SDK, Windows POS_SDK, EasySet tool, POS895 and POS896 user manuals, POS_SDK Development Manual V1.4).

Verdict

The POS895 and POS896 can be supported by this codebase, but not by linking the vendor SDK. The SDK is a thin C wrapper that builds ESC/POS byte strings and writes them to a raw TCP socket on port 9100. Inspectron.Epson/EpsonPrinter.cs already does the same thing in C#. The real work is:

1. a new IPrinter adapter for a 576-dot, 80 mm ESC/POS clone,
2. a discovery strategy that does not rely on Epson's ENPC broadcast,
3. a more robust printer identification than the single GS I 1 byte,
4. a hardware probe session to close the unknowns listed below.

Rough effort: 3 to 5 developer days once a printer is on the bench. No new deployment dependencies, no native code, no libusb. Restrict to the Ethernet models (POS895 UEd, POS896 UE); USB-attached operation is a separate project because the whole pipeline keys on an IP address.

What the vendor SDK is

Path: Linux_SDK\Linux_SDK_20190110\Linux_SDK_64_group_ARM\Linux_SDK_64_group\

File	What it is
HWISPRTPrinter.c / .h	~5,500 lines of C. Transports: libusb, serial tty, TCP socket to port 9100. Every POS_* function fills a global 1 KB buffer with an ESC/POS sequence and writes it.
sprtGraphic.c / .h	BMP loader and a proprietary line-bitmap encoder (see below).
libHWISPRTPrinter.so	Prebuilt library. 32-bit Intel i386, despite the folder name saying ARM.
libusb/	Bundled libusb, x86-64.
testMain.c, CPCLtest.c, TSPLtest.c, CPCLDemo.c, GtestMain.c	Demos. Only testMain.c is ESC/POS.
makefile	Cross-compiles with arm-linux-gcc. The shipped binaries were not built with it.
README.txt	Chinese, GBK encoded. Decode with iconv -f GB18030 -t UTF-8. The .c and .h files are UTF-8.

Reasons not to use it:

• Global state only. One socket descriptor (socketFd), one command buffer (gCmdBuf), no printer handle. It cannot drive two printers concurrently; PrintServer does.
• The shipped .so would not load on the Raspberry Pi. It would need cross-compiling from source, then P/Invoke from .NET, for zero functional gain over what EpsonPrinter already sends.
• Roughly half the API is CPCL and TSPL label-printer commands. Irrelevant for receipts.
• pos-sdk\POS-SDK\POS-SDK_V1219\ is a Windows POS_SDK.dll with a WinForms P/Invoke demo (Testing\C#\TestSDKCSharp\Form1.cs). Irrelevant for the Linux service. Its manual (POS_SDK Development Manual V1.4_Neutral.pdf) is in English and is the best command reference in the package.
• Development stopped around 2016 to 2019 for the Linux part.

The firmware family is "SPRT" (the SDK is named HWISPRTPrinter, log prefix qzf). Treat the printer as a SPRT-derived ESC/POS clone.

Printer facts from the manuals

	POS895	POS896
Paper	80 mm (79.5 ±0.5), 72 mm printable	same
Resolution	203 dpi, 8 dots/mm, 576 dots/line	same
Fonts	Font A 12x24 (48 columns), Font B 9x17, CJK 24x24	same
Interfaces	Ud: USB. UEd: USB + Ethernet	UBTDM/UBTMM: USB + Bluetooth + drawer. UE: USB + serial + Ethernet + drawer
Command set	ESC/POS	ESC/POS
Barcodes	UPC/EAN/CODE39/ITF/CODABAR/CODE93/CODE128, PDF417, QR, DataMatrix	same
Speed	160 mm/s	260 mm/s
DHCP	Off by default, auto-enables if the static IP cannot reach the router	same
Factory reset	1B 09 1B 92 FF 01
Hex dump mode	Open cover, press FEED twice within 3 s, close cover. Exit: open cover, press FEED three times.
Self-test	Press FEED twice within 3 s. Prints model, firmware, interface, default code page.

The POS896 buffers up to 45 KB of unprinted data across a paper-out and prints it after reloading. Worth knowing when reasoning about retries.

ESC/POS commands the SDK emits (so the firmware certainly supports them)

Function	Bytes
Initialize	1B 40
Feed n lines	1B 64 n
Cut, full / partial	1D 56 00 / 1D 56 01 (SDK always feeds 3 lines first)
Line spacing	1B 33 n
Alignment	1B 61 n
Left margin	1D 4C nL nH
Font mode (font B, bold, double width, double height, underline)	1B 21 n (bits 0, 3, 5, 4, 7)
Bit image	1B 2A m nL nH data, m in {0, 1, 32, 33}
Real-time status	10 04 n, n in 1..4, one-byte reply
Printer ID	1D 49 42 (GS I 66, returns "_" + factory name as a string)
Cash drawer	1B 70 m t1 t2
Inverse print	1D 42 n
Rotate / upside-down	1B 56 n / 1B 7B n
1D barcode	1D 6B ...
2D barcode	1D 5A ... (PDF417 / DataMatrix / QR selector)
Proprietary line bitmap	1D 44 01, then per non-blank row 15 <skip> 16 <bytes> <inverted row data>, then 1D 44 00

Status byte interpretation in the SDK (matches Epson's DLE EOT layout and our parsers in EpsonPrinterStatus.cs):

Query	Fixed bits	Meaning of set bit
10 04 01 printer status	0x12 must be set	0x04 drawer high
10 04 02 offline status	0x12	0x04 cover open
10 04 03 error status	0x12	0x08 cutter error, 0x20 unrecoverable, 0x40 auto-recoverable
10 04 04 paper status	0x12	0x40 paper end

Code pages: the SDK manual's code page table (TSPL section, but the same family) has index 18 = CP852, matching Epson numbering. Our EpsonCommands.CP852Encoding sends 1B 74 12, so Latin-2 text is probably fine. Confirm on the self-test page.

Compatibility of what TM_T30IIITranslated sends today

Command	Our use	Assessment
ESC @, GS V, ESC 3, ESC 2	init, cut, line spacing	Fine, SDK emits them.
ESC d n	feed	Appears to be ignored. Feed with literal LF bytes.
DLE EOT 1..4	status	Confirmed. Identical layout, 0x12 fixed bits set.
GS ! n (SetFontSizeAsync)	magnification	Confirmed at width 1x/2x/3x, height 2x.
ESC E (SetEmphasized)	bold	Standard, likely fine. SDK uses ESC ! bit 3 instead.
ESC t 18 + CP852	umlauts	Confirmed. ESC t honoured; 18=CP852, 2=CP850, 0=CP437 all render.
ESC $ (SetAbsolutePrintPosition)	logo offset 100	Unverified. SDK uses GS L margins instead.
GS ( L fn 112 / fn 50 (LoadImageAsync + PrintLoadedImage)	logo	Confirmed unsupported. Prints nothing.
ESC * 33 (PrintImageBitModeAsync)	logo	Confirmed. Full 576-dot width. Use this.
GS v 0	logo	Confirmed working too, but redundant. Do not implement.
GS I 1 (GetPrinterIdAsync)	model byte	Confirmed 0x20. No collision with 0x01/0x0D/0x13.
ESC r (SetRedColor)	two-colour	Not applicable, monochrome printer. The T30III adapter ignores IsRed anyway.

SPRT discovery protocol

Captured with pktmon while running EasySet Tool.exe on the printer's segment, then reimplemented in Pos895Test and confirmed to return byte-identical results (same MAC, same serial) as the vendor tool.

Query - UDP broadcast to 255.255.255.255:3289, sent from source port 9100, 13 bytes:

53 50 52 54 2D 49 6E 66 6F 72 00 00 0D      "SPRT-Infor" + 00 00 0D

Reply - from <printer>:3289 back to <querier>:9100, 39 bytes of ASCII:

28-0e-8b-3d-ca-f1            2608120478
|<--- MAC, 17 --->||<- 12 sp ->||<- serial, 10 ->|

The printer's address is the reply's source IP. The payload carries MAC and serial only, no model name, so model identification remains a separate TCP-side step and cannot be folded into discovery.

• Port 3289 is the same UDP port Epson ENPC uses, so a composite IDiscoveryService can reuse the socket it already has and dispatch on the shape of the reply.
• The querying machine was 10.1.250.71 and the printer 10.1.252.219: different /24s on one flat segment. A /24 sweep would have missed this printer, which is why the capture route beat the port-sweep route here.
• Unverified: whether the firmware replies to the sender's source port or hard-codes 9100. Pos895Test binds 9100 to match EasySet.
• Unverified: reply framing when more than one printer answers.

What breaks today if a POS895 is plugged into the network

1. Discovery. PrintServerBootstrapper binds DiscoveryService, which broadcasts Epson's proprietary EPSONQ packet on UDP 3289. The POS895 never answers it (confirmed: an EPSONQ broadcast went unanswered in the same capture that the printer did answer SPRT discovery in). PrintServer.RegisterPrinter is never called, so SubmitJob logs "Printer not found" and reports the job Failed. JamesDiscoveredPrintersReceiver never tells the backend about the printer, so it cannot be assigned to a work area.
2. Identification. EpsonPrinter.GetPrinterIdAsync sends 1D 49 01 and reads one byte. Three places dispatch on that byte: PrinterWrapperFactory.CreatePrinterFromId, ReceiptConverterFactory.Create (48 vs 33 columns), and DiscoveryService.GetModelNameFromId. If the printer answers nothing, the read waits the full connection timeout (10 s), returns null, printerId.Value throws, the job fails with PrintErrorType.Other, and PrinterQueue retries three times. If it answers 0x01 it is silently treated as a TM-T30III and mostly works by accident, with a 384 px logo at offset 100 on a 576-dot line.
3. Paper-out logic. EpsonPrintService.PrintAsync maps !PrinterStatus.IsOnline (DLE EOT 1 bit 3) to OutOfPaper. Whether this firmware sets that bit on paper-out is unverified. DLE EOT 4 bit 6 is what the SDK uses.

Work items

1. Hardware probe (do first, half a day). With the printer in hex dump mode and then in normal mode, send and record replies for:
   • 1D 49 01, 1D 49 41, 1D 49 42, 1D 49 43 (what identifies the model, and how many bytes come back)
   • 10 04 01..04 in normal, paper-out, cover-open states
   • 1B 74 12 followed by ä ö ü ß č bytes in CP852
   • 1D 21 00 / 11 / 10 / 01 text sizes
   • 1B 24 nL nH then text (does absolute positioning work)
   • a logo via GS ( L, via ESC * 33, and via 1D 76 30
   • EpsonDiagnostics.RunFullDiagnosticsAsync output for the record
2. Adapter. New Inspectron.Epson/PrintServer/Printers/POS895.cs implementing IPrinter, cloned from TM_T30IIITranslated: logo width 576, centred offset (576 - width) / 2, image via ESC * or GS v 0, delays tuned. One case each in PrinterWrapperFactory, ReceiptConverterFactory (48 columns), DiscoveryService.GetModelNameFromId.
3. Identification hardening in EpsonPrinter. Shorter read timeout for GS I, fall back to the GS I 67 model-name string, or to a per-IP configured model, when the byte is missing or collides with an Epson ID.
4. Discovery for non-Epson printers. Solved: the vendor SPRT protocol is documented above and reimplemented in Pos895Test, confirmed against the printer. Remaining work is a SprtDiscoveryService implementing IDiscoveryService, and a composite service that merges its results with ENPC. Both probes go to UDP 3289, so they can share a socket. PrinterDiscoveryBackgroundTask needs no change. Now well under the 1 to 2 days originally estimated.
5. Emulation and tests. Add a 576 px HtmlPrinter entry with the new ID to the emulation dictionary in PrintServerBootstrapper, and EpsonTest cases, so receipt layouts can be checked without hardware.
6. GS v 0 raster in EpsonCommands Not needed: GS ( L is rejected but ESC * works and is already implemented.
7. CLAUDE.md updates once the adapter exists: printer ID byte, image width, discovery method.

Answered on hardware, 2026-09-03

Probed through an AnyDesk TCP tunnel to the printer's port 9100, plus the SPRT discovery probe run on the printer's own segment. Tooling in Pos895Test/.

• Does the printer answer any UDP discovery? Yes, SPRT on UDP 3289, above.

• Does DLE EOT work? Yes. All four queries answered, exact Epson bit layout, 0x12 fixed bits set on every reply. EpsonPrinterStatus.cs parses this printer unmodified, so no custom status parser is needed.

• Font A column count? 48 on the 576-dot line, as the manuals claim. The existing 48-column converters apply unchanged.

• Does GS ! magnification work? Yes, verified at width 1x/2x/3x, height 2x, so SetFontSizeAsync can pass magnification through without clamping.

• ESC !? Selects Font A with 0x00.

• ESC d n? Appears to be ignored. Feed with literal LF bytes.

• GS I family? GS I 1 = 0x20, unique. GS I 2 = 0x02, GS I 3 = 0x64, GS I 65 = "N-656 1.+0", GS I 69 = "_English". GS I 66 (maker) and GS I 67 (model name) are blank, so the model-name fallback the work items suggested is useless here. GS I 68 returns the serial and it matches the SPRT discovery serial exactly, which makes it a usable correlation key between a discovered and a connected printer.

• Raster graphics? GS ( L prints nothing. ESC * 33 and GS v 0 both render correctly across the full 576 dots. Use PrintImageBitModeAsync.

• Code pages? ESC t is honoured and index 18 really is CP852. Index 2 (CP850) and 0 (CP437) also render correctly.

  Note CP852 has no e-grave, a-grave, u-grave, e-circumflex, i-grave or o-grave. EpsonPrinter.PrintTextAsync hardcodes CP852 for every printer, so French and Italian accents are already dropped fleet-wide, Epsons included. Now known to be fixable by selecting CP850, but that is a product-wide change with its own blast radius, not part of POS895 support.

Open questions that only hardware can answer

• Does DLE EOT 1 bit 3 go high on paper-out? The status queries answer, but paper-out was never induced.
• Font B, and its claimed 64 columns.
• Does the SPRT reply go to the sender's port, or is 9100 hard-coded?
• Does the POS896 report the same GS I 1 = 0x20? Assumed yes, same spec sheet and same command set, but untested.