Aim:- To study working of printer.

PRINTERS

What are printers?

A printer is an output device that prints characters, symbols, and perhaps graphics
on paper. The printed output is generally referred to as hardcopy because it is in
relatively permanent form. Softcopy refers to temporary images such as those
displayed on a monitor. Printers are categorized according to whether or not the
image produced is formed by physical contact of the print mechanism with the paper.
Impact printers have contact; non impact printers do not.

A computer printer, or more commonly a printer, is a computer peripheral which

produces a hard copy (permanent human-readable text and/or graphics) of
documents stored in electronic form, usually on physical print media such as paper
or transparencies. Many printers are primarily used as local peripherals, and are
attached by a printer cable or, in most new printers, a USB cable to a computer
which serves as a document source. Some printers, commonly known as network
printers, have built-in network interfaces (typically wireless or Ethernet), and can
serve as a hardcopy device for any user on the network. Individual printers are often
designed to support both local and network connected users at the same time.

In addition, a few modern printers can directly interface to electronic media such as
memory sticks or memory cards, or to image capture devices such as digital
cameras, scanners; some printers are combined with a scanners and/or fax
machines in a single unit. Printers that include non-printing features are sometimes
called Multifunction Printers (MFP), Multi-Function Devices (MFD), or All-In-One
(AIO) printers.

Printers are routinely classified by the underlying print technology they employ;
numerous such technologies have been developed over the years.

The choice of print engine has a substantial effect on what jobs a printer is suitable
for, as different technologies are capable of different levels of image/text quality, print
speed, low cost, noise; in addition, some technologies are inappropriate for certain
types of physical media.

Another aspect of printer technology that is often forgotten is resistance to alteration:

liquid ink such as from an inkjet head or fabric ribbon becomes absorbed by the
paper fibers, so documents printed with a liquid ink sublimation printer are more
difficult to alter than documents printed with toner or solid inks, which do not
penetrate below the paper surface.
Q. Comparison between IMPACT PRINTER AND NON-IMPACT PRINTER?
IMPACT PRINTER
• An impact printer has mechanisms
resembling those of a typewriter. It
forms characters or images by
striking a mechanism such as a
print hammer or wheel against an
inked ribbon, leaving an image on
paper.
• Impact printers are dying out;
however, you may still come in
contact with a dot-matrix printer
.
• They are slow and creates lots of
noise pollution.
• They can create several copies at
a time without using carbon
papers.
• Impact printers are less expensive
compared to non impact printer.
• Example: Daisy printer, drum
printer dot matrix printer, chain
printer.
NON IMPACT PRINTER
• Non impact printers, used almost
everywhere now, are faster and
quieter than impact printers
because they have fewer moving
parts. Non impact printers form
characters and images without
direct physical contact between
the printing mechanism and the
paper.
• Two types of non impact printers
often used with microcomputers
are laser printers and ink-jet
printers.
• They print very fast and make less
noise pollution.
• They can create only one copy at
a time.
• Non-impact printers are
expensive.
• Example: Ink-jet printer and laser
printer.
Q. Comparison between DOT MATRIX AND LASER PRINTER?

DOT MATRIX PRINTER LASER PRINTER

• A dot-matrix printer contains a • Like a dot-matrix printer, a laser
print head of small pins that strike printer creates images with dots.
an inked ribbon, forming However, as in a photocopying
characters or images. Print heads machine, these images are
are available with 9, 18, or 24 created on a drum, treated with a
pins; the 24-pin head offers the magnetically charged ink-like
best print quality. toner (powder), and then
transferred from drum to paper.

• Dot-matrix printers permit a choice • They produce sharp, crisp images

between output of draft quality; a of both text and graphics,
72 dots per inch vertically and providing resolutions from 300 dpi
near-letter-quality, a 144 dots per up to 1200 dpi.
inch vertically.
• They are quiet and fast.
• Dot-matrix printers are noisy and
inexpensive.
• They can print 4-32 text-only
• Dot-matrix printers print about 40- pages per minute for individual
300 characters per second (cps) microcomputers, and more than
and can print some graphics, 120 pages per minute for
although the reproduction quality mainframes.
is poor.
• They cannot print through
• They can print through multipart multipart forms; they can just
forms, creating several copies of a create a single copy of a page at
page at the same time. the same time.