Some History

Before the printer existed, people used to write with pens. Then came the era of type-writers. It kinda revolutionized office work. I’ve read somewhere that Russian top secret officials usually use type-writers because it would be possible to know the authenticity of the document due to the different character had striking the paper at different angles and force. Each type writer has like its own identity. Well, let’s move on now.

The Printer

The printer came along computers. It allowed people to preview their documents on their screens before “materializing” it. Mistakes can be removed at an early stage 😛

Categories of Printers
The most popular ones are ink-jet and laser printers. These can be either color or monochrome.

Ink-jets project ink particle on the paper as it prints. The print head passes over the paper printing line by line.

Laser printers are much faster than ink-jets. Electrons are fired on a drum hence ionizing it. The ink liquid are charged positively. The ink particles would be attracted to the drum. The drum is then rolled on paper resulting in a print off. lol 🙂

Connectivity

Back in the days printers were connected using parallel ports. Nowadays, the USB meaning Universal Serial Port is used in almost all models.

On top of that, wireless printing is also possible. Bluetooth enabled printers would allow one with a Bluetooth phone or camera to print directly. This forms part of PAN.

LAN printing involves connecting your printer to your router. An IP address is assigned to your printer. This could be either wired using RJ45 or using Wifi.

Controversies involving Printers
Printers require paper. Paper is made from trees. Cutting down trees just worsens the global warming effect.

I hope this little expose de-mystified printers a bit.

Do print only if you really need to and plant more trees than you’re killing 😉