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PRINTERS
Definition
Printers are computer printing devices for producing hard-copy output, such as management reports,
memos, payroll checks, and program listings. Printers are generally classified as serial printers, line
printers, or page printers. Printers are rated by their print speed. Print speeds are measured in;

a) Characters per second (CPS) for serial printers

b) Lines per minute (LPM) for line printers
c) Pages per minute (PPM) for page printers.
Categories of printers
Printers are further categorized as impact and non-impact.

a) An impact printer uses some type of hammer or hammers to hit the ribbon and the paper,
such as a typewriter does. Drawing back From English, Physics and other related subjects, the
term impact refers to physical contact between objects (objects hitting or striking one
another). This is the basis on which impact printers function. Impact printers use some sort of
physical contact with the paper to produce an image, physically striking paper, ribbon, and
print hammer together. The impact may be produced by a print hammer character, like that
of a typewriter key striking a ribbon against the paper, or by a print hammer hitting paper and
ribbon against a character. Dot matrix printers, daisy wheel printers, and line printers are
types of impact printers.
 Dot Matrix Printers: A dot matrix printer is an impact printer. Its print head consists
of a series of small tubes containing pins that, when pressed against a ribbon and
paper, print. It is much like the print mechanism on a typewriter and generally prints
one line at a time. Some dot matrix printers can print in multiple colors using ribbons
that contain the colors red, green, and blue. They are commonly used in cash registers
for receipts, ATM, and many other point-of-sales terminals .The output is of low
quality .They are noisy due to the pins striking the ribbon to the paper. They can only
print lower-resolution graphics, with limited color performance, limited quality, and
lower speeds compared to non- impact printers.

 Daisy Wheel Printers: When users require printed output of high quality, Such as for
business or legal correspondence, a letter-quality printer is often used. The term letter
quality refers to the quality of the printed character that is suitable for formal or
professional business letters. A letter-quality printed character is a fully formed, solid
character like those made by typewriters. It is not made up of a combination of dots,
as by a dot matrix printer. The disadvantage of a daisy wheel printer is that it is
capable of printing only the characters that are on the wheel it cannot, therefore,
daisy-wheel printers do not produce graphic images. The daisy wheel print element
consists of a number of films, each with a character at the end when the printer is
running the wheel spring unit the desired character is lined up with the hammer. The
hammer then strikes against the ribbon and paper, printing the character.
 Line Printers: Line printers are impact printers that print one line at a time. The most
popular types of line printers are the band printer and chain printers. Both band and
chain printers have a print hammer for each character position in the line of print
(usually 132)

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b) Non-impact printers use chemicals, lasers, and heat to form the images on the paper. Non-
impact printers are the most recent printers we now see in our everyday life, most especially
in cybercafés, documentation offices etc.

A non-impact printer places an image on a page without physically touching the page. The major
examples of non-impact printers include; thermal printers, laser printers and ink-jet printers.
There are many advantages to non-impact printers over impact ones, but there are two major
reasons for their growing popularity: They are faster and quieter.

 The thermal printers: Each time we hear of thermal, the first thing that runs through our
mind is “Heat”. The thermal printer is an alternative to the other serial printers. They work
similarly to dot matrix printers, heat elements produce dot matrix images on special type
of paper (heat sensitive paper) called thermo chromic. Thermal printers print faster and
quieter than dot matrix printers. They are also smaller, and consume less power, making
them ideal for portable and retail applications. The major disadvantage is the cost of the
heat-sensitive paper. The advantages include compact size, limited noise, and low
purchase price.
 Ink-jet Printers: Like its name suggests, Ink-jet printer produces letter-quality images by
spraying droplets of ink multiple jet nozzles onto the surface of the paper. It can print in
both black and white and several different colors of ink to produce excellent graphics. The
big advantage that ink-jet printers have over impact dot-matrix printers is the quality of
the output, especially color output. The main disadvantages of inkjet printers are:
 the high cost of ink running and inkjet printer can be more expensive than a laser printer
 Prints emerge from the printer slightly wet and may need time to dry
 Printing is slower and therefore inkjets aren't designed for high volume printing.
 Laser Printers: whenever we hear of laser, first thing that comes to our mind is “Light”
(think of laser light in physics). Laser printers use a light beam to help transfer images to
paper, producing extremely high-quality results. They are the same as photocopiers and
multifunction printers. Laser printers print a page at a time impressive speeds. The main
advantages of using a laser printer are :
It is quick at producing high quality images
It is precise and also it is very economical
It has a very low noise output
Many of the printers are lightweight and compact so they don’t take up much
space on a desk.

The main disadvantages of using a laser printer are the cost because cartridges are
more expensive than the cost of inkjet printer's toner.

 Plotters: Dot-matrix, ink-jet and thermal printers are capable of producing graphic output,
but they are limited in its quality and size. Pen plotters are devices that convert computer-
generated graphs, charts, and line drawings into high-precision hard-copy output. The two
basic types of pen plotters are the drum plotter and the flatbed plotter.
A plotter printer is a computer printing device for printing vector graphics. Plotters print
by moving a pen or other instrument across the surface of a piece of paper. The plotters
use one or more heads to draw graphics or text and the printer head is attached to a
horizontal bar and can be moved horizontally or vertically and draws lines and curves. Pen
plotters can draw complex line art including text. Because they are a vector graphics

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printer, meaning they can only print lines and minimum curves; they are great for printing
blueprints and maps. They are very expensive so big businesses are usually the only ones
that use them. They are slow because of the mechanical movement of the pens. They
print poor quality ordinary photographs.

Summary

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“He who has never made a mistake, has never tried something new (Albert Einstein) “.

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