The error the printer was spitting out on boot was annoying to me.  I also didn’t like not knowing what other surprises the Bank of America custom firmware may have in store for me.

I think I mentioned it in a prior post, but I spent a lot of time trying to defeat the custom Epson Serial Buffer Module II firmware on a software level.  Image back to factory firmwares, etc.  I don’t know if it’s Epson keeping these firmwares off the streets (maybe only shared with specific parties/partners), maybe you have to contact them directly (which I did not try), maybe the stuff is just so old that the stuff has been lost throughout time and Epson website updates.  Whatever the reason, finding firmware for this serial board was wasting valuable time.

I decided to give up.  Not on #RetroChallenge but on this silly SBMII module.  I felt a little less geeky going this route, but in the interest of time, I present…

Thanks eBay!!  This board was cheap, as it appears people swap these interface boards for things that run other protocols/connectivity standards.  So there are plenty of these on eBay.

Upon booting the printer, no more error!  Now on to see if some of the control codes that were operating in a funky fashion work better now.  An additional benefit, now the printer internal DIP switches actually function properly.

On to the code!!!