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{{use American English|date=August 2022}}
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[[File:HP Laserjet 5 DN 1.jpg|thumb|[[HP LaserJet 5]] printer]]
[[File:Nintendo PocketPrinter.JPG|thumb|The [[Game Boy Printer|Game Boy Pocket Printer]], a [[thermal printer]] released as a peripheral for the [[Nintendo]] [[Game Boy]]]]
[[File:Epson Wide Carriage 9-pin printer - with legal paper 8.5x14.jpg|thumb|This is an example of a wide-carriage [[dot matrix printer]], designed for {{convert|14|in|adj=on}} wide paper, shown with {{convert|8.5|x|14|in|adj=on}} legal paper. Wide carriage printers were often used in the field of businesses, to print accounting records on {{convert|11|x|14|in|adj=on}} [[tractor-feed paper]]. They were also called "132-column printers".]]
[[File:Printer.ogv|thumb|A video showing an [[Inkjet printing|inkjet printer]] while printing a page]]
|title=0271-2834-MTDC; Assembling a Bar-Code Tracking System
|url=https://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm02712834/page03.htm
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|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170601172309/https://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm02712834/page03.htm
|url-status=live
}}</ref> Different types of printers include 3D printers, inkjet printers, laser printers, and thermal printers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/p/printer.htm |title=What is a Printer? |work=computerhope.com |access-date=3 April 2020 |archive-date=21 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221203714/https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/p/printer.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
==History==
The first computer printer
The first patented printing mechanism for applying a marking medium to a recording medium or more particularly
The first compact, lightweight digital printer was the [[EP-101]], invented by Japanese company [[Seiko Epson|Epson]] and released in 1968, according to Epson.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web
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}}</ref><ref>[http://assets.epson-europe.com/eu/epson_eu/about_us.html About Epson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227084609/http://assets.epson-europe.com/eu/epson_eu/about_us.html |date=27 February 2017 }}, [[Seiko Epson|Epson]]</ref>
The first commercial printers generally used mechanisms from [[Typewriter#Electric designs|electric typewriters]] and [[Teleprinter|Teletype]] machines. The demand for higher speed led to the development of new systems specifically for computer use. In the 1980s
The introduction of the low-cost laser printer in 1984, with the first [[HP LaserJet]],<ref name=LJ84.NYT>{{
|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/20/science/peripherals-the-allure-of-laser-printers.html
|title=Peripherals -
|author=Peter H. Lewis
|date=
|access-date=3 April 2019
|archive-date=3 April 2019
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403031614/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/20/science/peripherals-the-allure-of-laser-printers.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref> and the addition of [[PostScript]] in next year's [[LaserWriter|Apple LaserWriter]] set off a revolution in printing known as [[desktop publishing]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kaplan|first=Soren|date=1999|title=Discontinuous innovation and the growth paradox|journal=Strategy & Leadership|volume=27|issue=2|pages=16–21|doi=10.1108/eb054631}}</ref> Laser printers using PostScript mixed text and graphics, like dot-matrix printers, but at quality levels formerly available only from commercial [[typesetting]] systems. By 1990, most simple printing tasks like fliers and brochures were now created on [[personal computer]]s and then laser printed; expensive [[offset printing]] systems were being dumped as scrap. The [[HP Deskjet]] of 1988 offered the same advantages as a laser printer in terms of flexibility, but produced somewhat lower-quality output (depending on the paper) from much less-expensive mechanisms. Inkjet systems rapidly displaced dot-matrix and daisy-wheel printers from the market. By the 2000s, high-quality printers of this sort had fallen under the $100 price point and became commonplace.
The rapid improvement of [[internet]] [[email]] through the 1990s and into the 2000s has largely displaced the need for printing as a means of moving documents, and a wide variety of reliable storage systems means that a "physical backup" is of little benefit today.
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==Types==
===Personal printer===
''Personal'' printers are mainly designed to support individual users, and may be connected to only a single computer. These printers are designed for low-volume, short-turnaround [[print job]]s, requiring minimal setup time to produce a hard copy of a given document. They are generally slow devices ranging from 6 to around 25 pages per minute (ppm), and the cost per page is relatively high. However, this is offset by the
===Networked printer===
''Networked'' or ''shared'' printers are "designed for high-volume, high-speed printing".
An ''ID Card printer'' is used
===Virtual printer===
A ''[[virtual printer]]'' is a piece of computer software whose user interface and [[Application programming interface|API]] resembles that of a printer driver, but which is not connected
===Barcode printer===
A ''[[barcode printer]]'' is a computer peripheral for printing [[barcode]] labels or tags that can be attached to, or printed directly on, physical objects. Barcode printers are commonly used to label cartons before shipment, or to label retail items with [[Universal Product Code|UPC]]s or [[European Article Number|EAN]]s.
===3D printer===
[[File:3D printer at 35c3 01.jpg|thumb|A 3D printer]]
A ''[[3D printing|3D printer]]'' is a device for making a three-dimensional object from a 3D model or other electronic data source through additive processes in which successive layers of material (including plastics, metals, food, cement, wood, and other materials) are laid down under computer control. It is called a printer by analogy with an inkjet printer
===ID card printer===
A '''
The principle is the same for practically all card printers: the plastic card is passed through a [[thermal print]] head at the same time as a color ribbon. The color from the [[ribbon]] is transferred onto the card through the heat given out from the print head. The standard performance for card printing is 300 dpi (300 dots per inch, equivalent to 11.8 dots per mm). There are different printing processes, which vary in their detail:
;
;
;Thermal rewrite print process:In contrast to the majority of other card printers, in the thermal rewrite process
;
====Variations====
Broadly speaking
;
;Direct to Card:Also known as "Edge to Edge Printing". The print-head comes in direct contact with the card. This printing type is the most popular nowadays, mostly due to cost factor. The majority of identification card printers today are of this type.
;Reverse Transfer:Also known as "High Definition Printing" or "Over the Edge Printing". The print-head prints to a transfer film backwards (hence the reverse) and then the printed film is rolled onto the card with intense heat (hence the transfer). The term "over the edge" is due to the fact that when the printer prints onto the film it has a "bleed", and when rolled onto the card the bleed extends to completely over the edge of the card, leaving no border.
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====Laser printers and other toner-based printers====
{{main
A [[Laser printing|laser printer]] rapidly produces high quality text and graphics. As with digital [[photocopier]]s and multifunction printers (MFPs), laser printers employ a [[xerography|xerographic]] printing process but differ from analog photocopiers in that the image is produced by the direct scanning of a [[laser]] beam across the printer's [[photodetector|photoreceptor]].
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====Solid ink printers====
{{main
[[Solid ink]] printers, also known as phase-change ink or hot-melt ink printers, are a type of [[thermal transfer printer]], graphics sheet printer or 3D printer . They use solid sticks, crayons, pearls or granular ink materials. Common inks are [[CMYK color model|CMYK]]-colored ink, similar in consistency to candle wax, which are melted and fed into a piezo crystal operated print-head. A Thermal transfer printhead jets the liquid ink on a rotating, oil coated drum. The paper then passes over the print drum, at which time the image is immediately transferred, or transfixed, to the page. Solid ink printers are most commonly used as color office printers and are excellent at printing on transparencies and other non-porous media. Solid ink is also called phase-change or hot-melt ink and was first used by Data Products and Howtek, Inc., in 1984.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gregory|first=P|title=Editor|publisher=Blackie Academic & Professional for Chapman and Hall|year=1996|isbn=0-7514-0238-9|___location=Great Britain|pages=113–138}}</ref> Solid ink printers can produce excellent results with text and images. Some solid ink printers have evolved to print 3D models, for example, Visual Impact Corporation<ref>{{Cite book|last=Burns|first=Marshall
====Dye-sublimation printers====
{{main
[[File:RGB dye sublimation panels.jpg|thumb|300px|A disassembled dye sublimation cartridge]]
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====Impact printers====
{{anchor|Impact_printers}} Impact printers rely on a forcible impact to transfer ink to the media. The impact printer uses a print head that either hits the surface of the ink ribbon, pressing the ink ribbon against the paper (similar to the action of a [[typewriter]]), or, less commonly, hits the back of the paper, pressing the paper against the ink ribbon (the [[IBM 1403]] for example). All but the [[dot matrix printer]] rely on the use of ''fully formed characters'', [[letterform]]s that represent each of the characters that the printer was capable of printing. In addition, most of these printers were limited to monochrome, or sometimes two-color, printing in a single typeface at one time, although [[emphasis (typography)|bolding]] and [[underlining]] of text could be done by "overstriking", that is, printing two or more impressions either in the same character position or slightly offset. Impact printers varieties include typewriter-derived printers, teletypewriter-derived printers, daisywheel printers, dot matrix printers, and line printers. Dot-matrix printers remain in common use <ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.printersbuddy.com/uses-of-printer/| title = Uses of Printer?| work = PrintersBuddy.com| access-date = 7 June 2022| archive-date = 17 January 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230117222607/https://www.printersbuddy.com/uses-of-printer/| url-status =
=====Typewriter-derived printers=====
{{main
[[File:IBM Selectric typeball.jpg|thumb|left|Typeball print element from IBM Selectric-type printer]]
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=====Teletypewriter-derived printers=====
{{main
The common [[teleprinter]] could easily be interfaced with the computer and became very popular except for those computers manufactured by [[IBM]]. Some models used a "typebox" that was positioned, in the X- and Y-axes, by a mechanism, and the selected letter form was struck by a hammer. Others used a type cylinder in a similar way as the Selectric typewriters used their type ball. In either case, the letter form then struck a ribbon to print the letterform. Most teleprinters operated at ten characters per second although a few achieved 15 CPS.
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=====Daisy wheel printers=====
[[File:Triumph-Adler Daisy wheel Cubic PS-92800.jpg|thumb|left|"Daisy wheel" print element]]
{{main
Daisy wheel printers operate in much the same fashion as a [[typewriter]]. A hammer strikes a wheel with petals, the "daisy wheel", each petal containing a letter form at its tip. The letter form strikes a ribbon of [[ink]], depositing the ink on the page and thus printing a character. By rotating the daisy wheel, different characters are selected for printing. These printers were also referred to as ''letter-quality printers'' because they could produce text which was as clear and crisp as a typewriter. The fastest letter-quality printers printed at 30 characters per second.
=====Dot-matrix printers=====
{{main
[[File:Dot matrix example text.png|thumb|right|Sample output from 9-pin dot matrix printer (one character expanded to show detail)]]
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In the 1970s and '80s, dot matrix printers were one of the more common types of printers used for general use, such as for home and small office use. Such printers normally had either 9 or 24 pins on the print head (early 7 pin printers also existed, which did not print [[descender]]s). There was a period during the early home computer era when a range of printers were manufactured under many brands such as the [[Commodore International|Commodore]] VIC-1525 using the [[Seikosha]] '''Uni-Hammer''' system. This used a single solenoid with an oblique striker that would be actuated 7 times for each column of 7 vertical pixels while the head was moving at a constant speed. The angle of the striker would align the dots vertically even though the head had moved one dot spacing in the time. The vertical dot position was controlled by a synchronized longitudinally ribbed platen behind the paper that rotated rapidly with a rib moving vertically seven dot spacings in the time it took to print one pixel column.<ref>{{cite web|title=VIC-1525 Graphics Printer User Manual|url=http://www.classiccmp.org/cini/pdf/Commodore/VIC-1525%20Printer%20User%27s%20Manual.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.classiccmp.org/cini/pdf/Commodore/VIC-1525%20Printer%20User%27s%20Manual.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|publisher=Commodore Computer|access-date=22 February 2015}}</ref> 24-pin print heads were able to print at a higher quality and started to offer additional type styles and were marketed as [[Dot matrix printing#Near Letter Quality .28NLQ.29|Near Letter Quality]] by some vendors. Once the price of inkjet printers dropped to the point where they were competitive with dot matrix printers, dot matrix printers began to fall out of favour for general use.
Some dot matrix printers, such as the NEC P6300, can be upgraded to print in color. This is achieved through the use of a four-color ribbon mounted on a mechanism (provided in an upgrade kit that replaces the standard black ribbon mechanism after installation) that raises and lowers the ribbons as needed. Color graphics are generally printed in four passes at standard resolution, thus slowing down printing considerably. As a result, color graphics can take up to four times longer to print than standard monochrome graphics, or up to
Dot matrix printers are still commonly used in low-cost, low-quality applications such as [[cash register]]s, or in demanding, very high volume applications like [[invoice]] printing. Impact printing, unlike laser printing, allows the pressure of the print head to be applied to a stack of two or more forms to print [[Multipart stationery|multi-part documents]] such as sales invoices and [[credit card]] receipts using [[continuous stationery]] with [[carbonless copy paper]]. It also has security advantages as ink impressed into a paper matrix by force is harder to erase invisibly. Dot-matrix printers were being superseded even as receipt printers after the end of the twentieth century.
=====Line printers=====
{{main
Line printers print an entire line of text at a time. Four principal designs exist.
[[File:Drum-printer.jpg|thumb|left|Print drum from drum printer]]
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==== Plotters ====
{{main
[[File:Calcomp 565 drum plotter.jpg|thumb|right|A Calcomp 565 drum plotter]]
Pen-based [[plotter]]s were an alternate printing technology once common in engineering and architectural firms. Pen-based plotters rely on contact with the paper (but not impact, per se) and special purpose pens that are mechanically run over the paper to create text and images. Since the pens output continuous lines, they were able to produce technical drawings of higher resolution than was achievable with dot-matrix technology.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hpmuseum.net/exhibit.php?class=4&cat=24|title=HP Computer Museum|website=www.hpmuseum.net|access-date=10 June 2014|archive-date=3 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703013250/http://hpmuseum.net/exhibit.php?class=4&cat=24|url-status=live}}</ref> Some plotters used roll-fed paper, and therefore had a minimal restriction on the size of the output in one dimension. These plotters were capable of producing quite sizable drawings.
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* Barcode printer multiple technologies, including: [[thermal printing]], [[inkjet printing]], and [[laser printing]] [[barcode]]s
* Label printer
* [[Wide-format printer]]
* Billboard / sign paint spray printers
* Laser etching (product packaging) industrial printers
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Most printers other than line printers accept [[control character]]s or unique character sequences to control various printer functions. These may range from shifting from lower to upper case or from black to red ribbon on typewriter printers to switching fonts and changing character sizes and colors on raster printers. Early printer controls were not standardized, with each manufacturer's equipment having its own set. The IBM [[Personal Printer Data Stream]] (PPDS) became a commonly used command set for dot-matrix printers.
Today, most printers accept one or more [[page description language]]s (PDLs).
=== Printing speed ===
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=== Printer steganography ===
[[File:Printer Steganography Illustration.png|thumb|An illustration showing small yellow tracking dots on white paper, generated by a color laser printer]]
{{Main
Printer steganography is a type of [[steganography]] – "hiding data within data"<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1109/4236.935180|title = Digital steganography: Hiding data within data|journal = IEEE Internet Computing|volume = 5|issue = 3|pages = 75–80|year = 2001|last1 = Artz|first1 = D.}}</ref> – produced by color printers, including [[Brother Industries|Brother]], [[Canon (company)|Canon]], Dell, [[Seiko Epson|Epson]], [[Hewlett-Packard|HP]], IBM, [[Konica Minolta]], [[Kyocera]], Lanier, [[Lexmark]], [[Ricoh]], [[Toshiba]] and [[Xerox]]<ref>{{cite web|title=List of Printers Which Do or Do Not Display Tracking Dots|url=https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots|publisher=[[Electronic Frontier Foundation]]|date=2007-09-20|access-date=11 March 2011|archive-date=20 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170120103601/https://www.eff.org/pages/list-printers-which-do-or-do-not-display-tracking-dots|url-status=live}} Retrieved 11 March 2011.</ref> brand color laser printers, where tiny yellow dots are added to each page. The dots are barely visible and contain encoded printer serial numbers, as well as date and time stamps.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-03 |title=Why printers add secret tracking dots |url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170607-why-printers-add-secret-tracking-dots |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB | archive-url = https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170607-why-printers-add-secret-tracking-dots#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url | archive-date = 2025-03-31}}</ref>
==Manufacturers and market share==
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==References==
{{Reflist
==External links==
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[[Category:Computer printers]]
[[Category:Office equipment]]
[[Category:Printing technology]]
[[Category:Typography]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
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