●Serial printer
Type
Reference
Characteristics
A device that sprays ink droplets from nozzle tips onto paper.
Printers primarily suited for consumer use due to low price and
high quality of color printing.
Dot impact printer
A printing device that uses a set of pins that are driven forward
to form the shape of a character. An ink ribbon is positioned
between the paper and pins, and the pins hit the ribbon to
transfer ink. Used for printing on carbon paper.
Thermal transfer
printer
A printing device that uses thermal heat to transfer the ink from
an ink ribbon. Some use thermal paper instead of an ink ribbon. This type is called a “thermal printer.” Many thermal transfer printers can also be used as thermal printers.
Plotter
A “plotter” is a device for printing design
plans and graphics.
They are used to print drawings prepared by CAD or other software. There
are various types of plotters including
an “XY plotter” that prints by moving a
pen in a horizontal and vertical direction, and an “electrostatic plotter” that
uses the same principle as a laser
printer for printing. There is also an
“inkjet plotter,” which uses the same
principle as an inkjet printer for printing.
Reference
Inkjet printer
“PostScript language” is a page description language for printers, and it is
used to coordinate the printer controls
and printing content.
The units used to evaluate the performance of a printer are summarized
below.
Unit
dpi
Description
Indicates the number of dots per inch (approx. 2.5cm) in a straight line.
Used as a unit to indicate the quality of a printer or image scanner. The
higher the number, the greater the resolution.
Example: 600dpi over a square inch works out to 600 x 600 = 360,000
dots.
ppm
Indicates the number of pages that can be printed per minute. Used as a
unit to indicate the printing speed of a page printer.
cps
Indicates the number of characters that can be printed per second. Used
as a unit to indicate the printing speed of a serial printer.
Computer system
PostScript language
Chapter 8
Inkjet printer
Reference
dpi
Abbreviation for “dot per inch.”
Reference
ppm
Abbreviation for “page per minute.”
Reference
cps
Abbreviation for “characters per second.”
Reference
cpi
“cpi” is a unit that expresses the number
of characters that can be printed in one
inch.
Abbreviation for “characters per inch.”
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