A printer means a printer, which is an electronic device to produce a hard copy of documents or photos from computer data. It’s also called a Printer Device in computer terms, in which the printer device can be either an internal printer or an external USB printer. Let’s take a look at how the printer in your computer works so that you can understand more about its purpose and its usage.
How Many Types of Printers are used in Computer?
Printers are classified into two categories according to printing technology ( working):
- Impact printer
- Non-Impact Printer
Impact Printers
Such printers have mechanical components that are always in direct contact with the paper. The ink ribbon inside the printer is pressed against the surface of the paper. The ink gets transferred on the paper and that is how it gets printed.
Impact printers have been around for the longest time after which the Non- impact printers came. There are different types of impact printers like-
- DAISY-WHEEL PRINTERS
These printers use a print wheel font, which is termed a daisy wheel. Each petal or hammer of Daisy-Wheel has a character raised on it. A motor spins the wheel at a rapid rate. When the desired character spins to the correct position, a print hammer strikes it to produce the output.
The speed of these Daisy-Wheel Printers normally ranged between 10-75 characters per second. The noise levels of these printers are high. These printers are most commonly used in electronic typewriters.
- DOT-MATRIX PRINTER
These printers print each character as a pattern of dots. The print head is made up of a matrix of tiny needles, typically 9 rows with 7 columns (9 *7 matrix needles). These shapes of each character are formed in the form of tiny dots.
The printing quality of a dot matrix printer is inferior to a daisy wheel printer. But the printing speed of a Dot Matrix Printer is range from 40 to 600 characters per second. Dot Matrix Printers are less expensive than daisy–wheel printers.
- DRUM PRINTER
The speed of these Daisy-Wheel Printers normally ranged between 10-75 characters per second. The noise levels of these printers are high. These printers are most commonly used in the electronic typewriter.
Non-impact Printers
This printer uses ink and special electrical machines for producing outputs. Non–impact printers are all those printers whose printing heads do not touch paper. A non-impact printer forms characters and images on a piece of paper without actually striking the paper.
- LASER PRINTERS
They print one page at a time thus laser printer is also referred to as Page Printer. A laser printer uses electronics, lasers, xerography, and other techniques, which is called the electrophotographic technique.
A laser beam is directed across the surface of a light or photosensitive drum. An image is produced, with the use of a raster scan principal, in the form of tiny dots.
Related: What is a laser printer
- INKJET PRINTERS
Inkjet printer is a non-impact character printer. It uses the dot-matrix approach to print text and graphics. However, the dots are formed by tiny droplets of ink. They print characters by spraying small drops of ink onto paper.
Related: What is inkjet printer
How to Connect a Printer to Your Computer?
Windows should easily find any printer connected to the same local network via Wi-Fi.
- Turn on your printer. Your printer must be plugged into a power source.
- Go to the Start menu and click Settings > Devices then Printers & scanners.
- Select Add a printer or scanner and then select it and hit Add device.
- If Windows detects your printer, click on the name of the printer and follow the on-screen instructions to finish the installation. And you’re done.
- If Windows doesn’t find your printer, select the printer that I want isn’t listed and follow the instructions.
- Then let the Windows troubleshooting guide help you find your printer. It will search for available printers and help you download the drivers for them.
