Printers

COMP1260 > Hardware

Introduction This article will be explaining printers, topics that will be covered include, the history of printers, types of printers, and some locations that you can find printers on campus. Laser Printer

...by students My first printer took about 5 minutes to print a page and took another 10 minutes for the ink to dry. This printer always amazed my dad's friends by how quickly it could print and how good output was. I fear to ask my dad how much he had spent on this printer that was so bad by todays standards. My mom told me it cost more than a few paychecks. Recently my dad just bought a new printer, similar to the one that came free with my laptop; a scanner/copier combined into one. For under $100 you can get one of these printer/scanner/copiers and they definitely won't take 5 minutes to print a page. That just shows that computer printers are still keeping up with the rest of the IT field.

History

Printing was around long before computers but using a computer connected to a printing device has revolutionized printing. The first computer printer was invented in 1969 by Gary Starkweather and it was actually a laser printer. The dot-matrix printer followed soon after in 1970 becoming a mainstay in the office along with personal computers. With the inkjet printer appearing in 1976, its ability to produce clearer images than dot-matrix printers and quieter operation allowed inkjets to surpass the dot-matrix printer in most applications. Most home printers right now are inkjet printers and are commonly incorporating a scanner/copier with the printer. Laser printers are still very viable, with high print speeds and precision, however the cost of toner cartridges prevents their use in most houses.

Types of Printers

There are several types of printers, the kind you are probably most familiar with is the inkjet printer. Other types of printers you will likely see are laser printers and dot-matrix printers.

Inkjet Printer

Inkjet printers are most commonly found in the household and small offices. They are very inexpensive for purchase and provide good print quality and speed. With most household inkjet printers now including scanner/copiers at a cost of around $100 it is hard to justify any alternative.

How InkJet Printers Work

Inkjet printers shoot ink onto a piece of paper from ink cartridges. There are several ways of projecting the ink onto the paper, but the most common household inkjets use a small heater in the ink cartridge to create steam and shoot a droplet out of the print head onto the desired location on the page. The ink cartridges moves back and forth accross the sheet printing one row at a time.

Laser Printer

Laser printers were the first type of computer printer ever invented. These printers are very fast but normally only produce black and white output. Laser printers are very expensive to purchase and the toner (dry ink) cartridges are about $50-200. Some laser printers are capable of colour images, however this increases the cost and hence is not an option with all laser printers.

How Laser Printers Work

Laser printers shoot a laser at an electrically charged drum, which will discharge the areas that are contacted by the laser. This projects an image of the page to be printed onto the drum and toner is then attracted to this negatively charged area of the drum. When printer paper passes over the drum, the toner is left on the page.

Dot-Matrix Printer

Dot-Matrix printers were one of the first printers that had a home use function. They were quite fast for their time and were capable of printing images as well as text unlike other typewriter-esque printers of the day. Dot-Matrix printers are still used in areas that do not require constant printing, as the print ribbon is not prone to drying unlike other types of printers. Dot-Matrix printers tend to also be able to continue functioning much longer than inkjet printers when the printer receives little maintenance.

How Dot-Matrix Printers Work

Dot-Matrix printers are a type of impact printer, they work by hitting a pin onto an ink ribbon which will transfer ink to the page. The actual output from a dot-matrix printer is distinguishable by the dots on the page which are much more prevalent than on other printer types.

Locations on Campus

There are several locations on campus that provide access to printers, some locations require you to pay per sheet and others are free.

Free

The free printing locations are normally dot-matrix printers and are located in:

• Elizabeth Dafoe Lab
• EITC-E2 1st floor (in between the washrooms)

Pay

The pay-per-sheet printers are laser printers and are capable of printing many pages very quickly. Most areas will have photocopiers as well.

• Digital Copy Centre - University Centre (Requires a print card or extra fee for service at the counter.)
• Elizabeth Dafoe Library (Requires a print card or student card to deposit money onto.)
• St John's Library (Requires a print card or student card to deposit money onto.)

Further Reading

Wikipedia - Computer Printer
HowItWorks - How Printers Work

References

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