BCA 1st Year Types of Printers Notes Study Material

BCA 1st Year Types of Printers Notes Study Material

Semester Wise BCA 1st Year Types of Printers Notes Study Material: If you choose to do a Bachelor of Computer Applications, it is BCA. BCA is a three-year program in most universities. After getting enrolled for BCA, there are certain things you require the most to get better grades/marks in BCA. Out of those, there are BCA Notes and BCA Semester Wise Notes Study Material, BCA Question Answers along with BCA Previous Year Papers. At gurujistudy.com you can easily get all these study materials and notes for free.

If you are a BCA Student there is a single-stop destination as far as preparation for BCA Examination is concerned. Here in this post, we are happy to provide you with the Topic Wise & Chapter Wise BCA 1st Year Types of Printers Notes Study Material.

BCA 1st Year Types of Printers Notes Study Material
BCA 1st Year Types of Printers Notes Study Material

BCA 1st Year Types of Printers Notes Study Material

Printer: Printers are the most commonly used output devices for producing hard-copy output. A printer transfers data from a computer onto paper. Some printers produce only letters and numbers whereas others can also produce graphics.

You don’t need a printer to use with your computer but having one allows you to print e-mail, cards, announcements, and other materials. Many people also like being able to print their own photos at home.

Printers are broadly classified into two types:

1. Impact Printer: An impact printer makes contact with the paper. It usually forms the print image by pressing an inked ribbon against the paper with a hammer-like mechanism. These printers function as a typewriter. The main disadvantage is that they are relatively slow and noisy. Some impact printers are described below:

(a) Dot-Matrix Printer: Dot-Matrix Printer (DMP) comes in the category of impact printer. Dot-matrix printers are also known as character printers. They form characters and all kinds of images as a pattern of dots, as shown below:

BCA 1st Year Types of Printers Notes Study Material

A dot-matrix printer has a print head, which contains an array of pins. This print head can move horizontally across the paper. These pins of the print head can be activated independently of each other to extend and strike against an inked ribbon to form a pattern of dots on the paper. So, to print a character, the printer activates the appropriate set of pins as the print head moves horizontally (from left to right and from right to left).

Dot-matrix printer has the ability to print any character of any font (such as Times New Roman, Courier New, Arial, etc.) and size (8,10,12, or more) and graphics such as charts and graphs.

The Dot-matrix printer is noisy. It prints usually 30 to 600 characters per second. It is cheap in terms of both initial cost and cost of operation.

(b) Drum Printer: Drum printer comes in the category of impact printers. Drum printers are line printers, which print one whole line at a time. It consists of a solid cylindrical drum with raised characters on its surface in the form of circular bands. Each band consists of all the printing characters supported by the printer in its character set. The total number of bands is equal to the maximum number of characters that can be printed on a line.

This printer has a set of hammers mounted in front of the drum in a manner that an inked ribbon and paper can be placed between the hammers and the cylindrical drum. The number of hammers is equal to the total number of bands on the drum. Therefore, if there are 132 print positions for one line, the printer will have 132 hammers.

The drum rotates at a high speed and activates the appropriate hammer, when the raised character on the band at the print position passed below it, prints a character at a print position.

As compared to the dot-matrix printers, drum printers’ output is very clear but they do not have the ability to print any shape of characters, different sizes, or print graphics, such as charts and graphs.

Similar to the dot-matrix printer, the drum printer is also noisy in operation. It prints usually 300 to 2000 lines per minute. It is cheap in terms of both initial cost and cost of operation.

(c) Chain/Band Printer: Chain/band printer comes in the category of impact printers. Chain/band printers are line printers that print one line at a time. It consists of a metallic chain/band with raised characters on it. Chain/band consists of all the printing characters supported by the printer in its character set.

This printer has a set of hammers mounted in front of the chain/band in a manner that an inked ribbon and paper can be placed between the hammers and the chain/band. The total number of hammers is equal to the total number of print positions in a line. Therefore, if there are 132 print positions in one line, the printer will have 132 hammers.

The chain/band rotates at a high speed and activates the appropriate hammer, when the raised character on the chain/band at the print position passes below it prints a character at a print position.

As compared to the dot-matrix printers, chain/band printers’ output is very clear but they do not have the ability to print any shape of characters, different sizes, or print graphics, such as charts and graphs.

Similar to the dot-matrix printer, the chain/band printer is also noisy in operation. It prints usually 400 to 3000 lines per minute. It is cheap in terms of both initial cost and cost of operation.

2. Non-Impact Printers: Printers that don’t strike hammers against ribbon or paper when they print are non-impact printers. These printers generate much less noise than impact printers. They are:

(a) Inkjet Printer: Inkjet printers come in the category of non-impact printers. They are the most popular printers for the home. They can print in black and white or in full color and can produce high-quality photographs when used with special paper. 

Inkjet printers are character printers that form characters and all kinds of images by spraying small drops of ink onto the paper. Inkjet printer has a print head, which contains up to 64 tiny nozzles, which can be selectively heated up in a few microseconds by a circuit register integrated into the print head. When the register heats up, the ink near it ejects through the nozzle and makes a dot on the paper. To print a character, the printer selectively heats the appropriate set of nozzles as the print head moves horizontally from top to bottom.

Inkjet printers produce higher quality output because they form characters with very tiny ink dots. A high-resolution inkjet printer has a resolution of around 360 dots per inch or more. 

Inkjet printers can print any shape of characters in any size and graphics, such as charts and graphs. They can print 40 to 300 characters per second.

(b) Laser Printer: Laser printer comes in the category of non-impact printers. It is a page printer that prints one page at a time. It has a laser beam source, a multi-sided mirror, a photoconductive drum, and a toner (tiny particles of charged ink).

To print a page of output, the mirror focuses the laser beam on the surface of the drum in a manner to create the patterns of characters/ +images to be printed on the paper. As the drum is photoconductive, a difference in electric charge is created on those portions of the drum surface which are exposed to the laser beam. 

As a result, the toner sticks to the drum in the places where the laser beam has charged the drum’s surface. The toner (on the drum) is then permanently fused on the paper with heat and pressure to generate the printed output. The drum is then rotated and cleaned with a rubber blade to remove the toner sticking to its surface to prepare the drum for the next page printing.

Laser printers produce very high-quality output because they form characters with very tiny ink particles. The resolution of laser printers is from 600 to 1200 dpi (dots per inch).

Laser printers can print any shape of characters in any size and graphics, such as charts and graphs.

Low-speed laser printers can print 4 to 12 pages per minute. Very high-speed laser printers can print 500 to 1000 pages per minute. They are more costly than other printers.

BCA 1st Year Types of Printers Notes Study Material

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