Computer Architecture - Hardware - Lesson 13 - Printers - Eric Vanderburg

1. Computer Architecture:
Core Hardware
Chapter 13
Printers
Eric Vanderburg
Eric Vanderburg – Core Hardware © 2005

2. Laser Printers
1. Cleaning – clean electrical charge from
Eric Vanderburg – Core Hardware © 2005
drum
2. Conditioning – applies a uniform charge
(-600v) on the drum
3. Writing – Lasers changes the charge on
the drum (-100v) in places where ink
should go onto paper. Mirrors sweep the
beam across the drum to complete a
scanline.
4. Developing – Toner is applied to the
drum. It sticks to areas with -100v
5. Transferring – Positively charged paper
grabs toner from the drum
6. Fusing – Paper is heated and pressed to
attach the toner to the paper

3. Laser Printers
• Print density is adjusted by changing the amount
of charge on the drum
• Shake toner cartridge
• Economode is great!
Eric Vanderburg – Core Hardware © 2005

4. Inkjet Printers
• Print heads pass over the paper
• Ink is boiled and then sprayed with
nozzles onto the paper.
• Printers can have as many as 3000
nozzles
Eric Vanderburg – Core Hardware © 2005

5. InkJet
• Some InkJet printers have many
cartridges so you only replace the
color you are running out of.
Eric Vanderburg – Core Hardware © 2005

6. Dot Matrix
• Loud
• Impact printer
• Uses an ink ribbon
• Pins hit the ribbon
Eric Vanderburg – Core Hardware © 2005

7. Other Printers
• Thermal Printers
– Heat used to melt wax
based ink onto paper
• Solid Ink Printers
– Uses sticks of ink –
melted
– Long warm up time
– Easy maintenance and
refill
Eric Vanderburg – Core Hardware © 2005

8. Print Drivers
• PostScript
– 5 or more PostScript fonts
– Developed by Adobe for Macintosh
– If your printer does not contain a font, Courier or
Helvetica will be used
• PCL (Printer Command Language)
– PCL1 in 1984, PCL6 in 1995
– Developed by HP
– Provides scalable fonts, font management and storage
of forms and fonts
• PJL (Printer Job Language)
– Printer language switching
– Job separation
– Environment commands
– Status feedback
– Device attendance
– File system commands
Eric Vanderburg – Core Hardware © 2005