Output Devices, Continued
Daisy wheel
Daisy wheel printers are very similar to typewriters. The flat, circular
printers
printing element contains all text and numeric characters. The element spins
rapidly, pausing only to allow the printing hammer time to strike the
character against the ribbon or paper. Daisy wheel printers are letter quality
printers but they tend to be slow.
Figure 3-10 shows a daisy wheel printer printing element.
Figure 3-10. —A daisywheel printing
element.
Nonimpact
Nonimpact printers do not make contact with paper or ribbon during
printers
printing. They use several techniques for printing, such as xerographic,
electrostatic, electrosensitive, electrothermal, ink jet, and laser. Nonimpact
printers are the fastest of printers with speeds approximating 20,000 lines of
print per minute. They are also much quieter than impact printers. Some of
the disadvantages are that they produce one copy at a time, sometimes
require specially treated paper stock, and the printed output may blur.
Continued on next page
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