Theory- 14:-Line Printer

Line Printer      

The line printer is an impact printer in which one line of text is printed at a time. They are mostly associated with unit record equipment and the early days of digital computing, but the technology is still in use.

A line printer is a high‐speed printer capable of printing an entire line of text at once instead of one or more characters at a time. These types of printers are too fast to be measured in words or characters per minute, and instead are measured in lines per minute. For example, a line printer may be capable of printing over 3,000 lines of type per minute.

A high‐speed printer capable of printing an entire line at one time. A fast line printer can print as many as 3,000 lines per minute. The disadvantages of line printers are that they cannot print graphics, the print quality is low, and they are very noisy.

Line Printers: ‐ Line Printer can Print One Line at a Time. The line printer is a form of high speed impact printer. They can Print 300 to 3000 Lines per Minute. So that they are very fast. Large Computer system typically uses Line Printer. The Line Printers are of two Types.

Drum Printers: ‐ Drum Printer consists of a Drum Which Consists of a Number of Characters; those are Printed on the Drum. And the Number of Characters or Number of Tracks are Divided, after examining the width of the Paper. But there are also Some Character sets Available Means the Number of Characters those are printed on the Paper. For Example 64, and 96 Characters etc.

In this Paper is placed between the Ribbon and the Head or Hammer there are many hammers on the Front of Drum. In this Drum Rotates at a Very High Speed and character is printed by activating the Appropriate Hammer. So always remember that All the Characters are never printed at a Time, but they are printed at a very high Speed. And they can print only a Pre Defined Styles because the Drum has a Specific Characters. Those are placed on the Drum. So that they cant print the various Types of Fonts and Color Pictures. And Drum Printers are also noisy because they use Hammering Techniques.

Chain Printers: These are also Line Printers, which Prints one Line at a Time. All the Characters are printed on the Chain and the Set of Characters are placed on the Chain. There are 48 and 64 and 96 Characters set Printers are Available. There are also Some Hammers, those are Placed in Front of the Chain, and Paper is Placed between the Hammer and the Inked Ribbon. The Total Number of Hammers will be Equals to the Total Number of Print Positions.

In this Chain Rotates at a Very High Speed and Character is printed by activating the Appropriate Hammer of the Character. Chain Printers can also print some Pre Defined characters and we can’t Display the High Quality of Fonts and Font Styles. They are also Impact Printers and Also Noisy because they Prints the Characters by Hammering Action. And these Printers can print the 400 to 3000 Lines Per Minute.