Introduction to Printer

A printer is a peripheral device that is used to that accepts the graphical and text output from the computer
and display the results on the papers.  It produces the hard copy of the documents that are stored in the
electronic form.  It is an external device and attached with the computer with a cable.  It can be shared
with the local and the network users.  In the big networks, a print server is a dedicated computer that
handles the printing requests only. A network printer can also be a dedicated device and the network users
are attached to it through the Ethernet port.

Every network users can send a printing request to the print server. Print server prioritizes the requests
based on its settings.  Modern printers are 4 in 1 i.e. they come with fax, photocopier and scanner.  They
vary in sizes, speed and the specifications and the cost also depends on these factors.  The main features
of any printer are the color quality, speed, resolution and the memory. Today speed is measure in the
pages per minute and this measure is used as the marketing term.

People ask about the speed before purchasing it.  Printer provides the different instructions to the printing
device to control the font, size, graphics, prioritized settings and the other things. There are different
manufactures of the printer like HP, Canon, Lexmark, Minolta, Epson and Xerox.  Based on the
specifications, quality, speed and performance the printer can be classified into the following main
categories.

Dot Matrix

It creates the characters by striking the pins against the ribbon.  The combinations of the dots make the
characters on the paper.

Inkjet

It sprays the ink at the paper to product the text and graphics.

Laser

Laser printers use the advanced technology to produce the high quality text and graphics at a high speed.

Daisy Wheel

Daily wheel is similar to the ball head type writer.  It has a plastic or metal wheel.  Daisy wheel printers
can produce the text but not the graphics.

Thermal Printer

Thermal printer works by pushing the heated head against the heat sensitive paper.  These printers are
used in the fax machines.

LCD

LCD uses the light emitting diodes or liquid crystals to produces the images and text.