Printers

The first computer printer design was a mechanically driven apparatus by Charles Babbage for his difference engine in the 19th century. The first electronic printer was the EP-101 invented by the Japanese company EPSON. The first commercial printers generally used mechanisms from electric typewriters and teletype mechanics. A printer is a device that accepts texts and graphics output from a computer and transfers the information to paper, usually to understand the size sheet of paper.  Personal printers can be distinguished as impact or non-impact printers. 

QUALITIES:

• Color: Color is important for the user who prints the pages for presentation or map and other pages where color is the part of the information. A printer capable of printing more than one color. Most color printers are based on the CMYK color models, which prints in four basic colors: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. 

• Resolution: Printer's resolution is usually measured in dots per inch (dpi). Most inexpensive printers provide sufficient resolution for most purposes at 600 dpi.

• Speed: If you do much printing, the speed of the printer becomes important. Inexpensive printers print only 3 to 6 sheets per minute. Color printing is slower.  More expensive printers are much Faster.

• Memory: Most printers come with a small amount of memory that can be expended by the user. Having more than the minimum amount of memory is helpful and faster.       

MODERN PRINTING TECHNOLOGY:

1. Toner Based Printers
2. Liquid Inject Printers
3. Solid ink Printers 
4. Dye-Sublimation Printers
5. Thermal Printers

PRINTING  MODE:

        The data received by a printer my be:

1. A string of character
2. A bitmapped image
3. A vector image
4. A computer program is written in a page description language.
5. Character printers, such as daisy wheel printers can be handled only plain text or data.
6. Pen plotters typically process vector images.