Line Printer - What is Line Printer? Type of Line Printer

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 use Line Printer. The Line Printers are of two Types.

a)    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.

b)   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.

Chapter : Memory & Input/Output Unit
• Computer Fundamental