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Hardcopy Output Devices Lesson Notes

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137 views7 pages

Hardcopy Output Devices Lesson Notes

Uploaded by

Alex
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Subject: Information Technology

Grade: 10

Topic: Hardcopy Output Devices

Date: September 26, 2022.

Objectives:

 know what cloud computing and output devices are.

 appreciate the purpose of soft copy output devices in computer systems.

Hardcopy Output Devices

The devices that generate output obtained in a tangible form on a paper or any surface is

called hardcopy output device. The hardcopy output can be read or used without a

computer. Printer and plotter are common hard copy output devices.

Printers

A way of classifying printers is as:

1. Impact printers

2. Non-impact printers

Impact printers use a printing mechanism called a print head. They make their output by

pressing the print head against a ribbon, which then hits the paper. The main types of impact

printers are dot matrix, daisy wheel and drum, chain or band printers.
Dot matrix printers (character printers)

Characteristics:

 Characters are formed from a matrix of dots.

 The speed is usually 30 – 550 characters per second (cps)

 It is very noisy

 It is relatively fast

 The print obtained is usually poor.

 They are useful for low-quality carbon copy prints or printing on continuous

sheets of paper e.g. invoices (bills).

 They are not good for printing shaded graphics or photographs.

Daisy wheel printers (character printers)

Characteristics:
 It is very noisy

 Printing is slow (less than 90 cps).

 The text is generally crisp and clean.

 The size and font produced can only be changed by using a different daisy, as the

characters on the wheel are fixed.

N.B. This printer is obsolete

Drum, chain or band printer (line printers)

Characteristics:

 They are fast (2500 lines per minute.

 They are used to print large volumes of information.


Non-impact printers are faster, quieter and produce better quality print than impact printers.

Unlike the impact printer, the printing mechanism makes no contact with the paper. The main

types of non-impact printers are laser printers, inkjet printers and thermal printers.

Thermal printers (character printers)

A printer that uses heat to transfer an impression onto paper.

Thermal printers are used in portable calculators, fax machines and some ATMs

(automated teller machines).

Inkjet printers (line printers)

Inkjet printers produce their output by spraying small droplets of ink at high speed into

paper, in a pattern. These printers can print in both black-and-white and colour. They used at

home and small offices. The print quality is good but not as good as the laser printer. Inkjet

printers can also produce both text and graphics. They are cheaper than laser printers.

Laser printers (page printers)


These use a process similar to that of a photocopying machine. They are used in large

companies or institutions such as schools. They can also be found in modern offices. A laser

beam and dry powdered ink called toner produces a very fine dot matrix pattern. This pattern is

transferred to the page and then fused onto it by heat and pressure. These printers can print in

black and white or colour. These printers can produce more than 40 pages per minute (ppm).

The print quality is very good. Laser printers produce both text and graphics. They are very

expensive.

Plotters
Plotters use different printing processes e.g. some work like an inkjet printer and others

use the same method as laser printers. They are used to produce documents with high quality

graphics in a variety of colours e.g. maps, architectural drawings and charts. They can print on

large sheets of paper.

COM (Computer Output on Microfilm/Microfiche)


COM is a method that is used to store computer documents by reducing them in size to fit

on very small photographic sheets of film. They are used to store large volumes of data. These

sheets can be read using a special magnifying machine. Microfilm is a roll of film and

microfiche is a rectangular sheet of film on which many frames/pages of information can be

stored.

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