IT2 Chapter 8 Notes - Printers

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These are the notes for Chapter 8 of the IT2 curriculum. This chapter is printers.

IT2 CHAPTER 8 NOTES

PRINTERS

Printer Selection Criteria:

• Capacity & Speed (Paper Capacity / Prints Per Min)
• Connection Type (Serial, Wireless, etc)
• Color: Black/White (Black / White / Both)
• Quality (PPI)
• Reliability (Reliability)
• Warranty (Warranty)
• Schedule Servicing (What to do to the printer w/ maintenance)
• Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) (When the hardware will fail)
• Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) (Maintenance costs & toner life)

Wired Printer Connection Types:

• To access a printer, a computer must have a compatible interface with it. Common interface types:
• • Serial *Seldomly used now.
  • Parallel *Seldomly used now.
  • Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) *Seldomly used now.
  • Universal Serial Bus (USB)
  • Firewire (Apple)
  • Ethernet

Printer Types

• Inkjet
• • High quality printer.
  • Spray technology.
• Laser
• • High quality, fast printer.
  • Uses a laser beam to create an image.
• Thermal
• • Some retail cash registers or older fax machines.
  • Uses heat for image generation.
• Impact
• • Carbon-copy printing ability.
  • Print heads strike an inked ribbon.
• Virtual Printer
• • Sending a print job to a remote destination in the cloud.

Installing & Updating a Printer

• Follow the manufacturer’s guide when connecting one.
• Print software can be installed using a CD from the manufacturer's website.
• The instructions will tell you to either install the printer or software.
• Every printer uses it’s unique printer and driver and software.

Cont’d

• Connect the printer.
• • Connect the appropriate data cable to the communication port on the back of printer.
  • Attach the printer power cable.
  • Never plug a printer into a UPS. The power surge the printer invokes can damage a UPS.
• Printer Driver
• • A printer driver is the software program that enables the computer and the printer to communicate with each other.
  • It is recommendable to find out if a newer driver is available on the manufacturer’s website.

Optimizing Printer Performance

Software from the driver is where most of the printer driver lies:

• Printer spooling setting
• Color calibration
• Paper orientation
• Print Head Cleaning

Global and Individual Documents options:

• Global Method
• • Setting that affects all documents.
  • • Start > Devices & Printers > Right click Printer
    • Start > Printers and Faxes > Right click Printer
• Per Document Method
• • Change the document print setting for specific documents

Operating System Settings for Sharing Printers:

• Printers can be shared on a network using wireless or bluetooth.
• Printer sharing can be configured in the Network & Sharing Center in the control panel.
• Shared printers can be connected using wired/wireless methods.
• To connect a shared printer, go to the control panel, choose printers or devices, printers, and  add a printer.

Print Servers

Three Functions

• Provide client access to print sources.
• Queue and send print jobs.
• Provide feedback to Account Creation.

Three types of print servers

• Software
• • Installed on a client PC.
• Hardware
• • Connects the network and communicates with the printer.
• Dedicated
• • Used in a large network with multiple LANs.

• Windows allows PCs to share their printers.
• • Configure the computer attached to the printer to share the printer with other network users.
  • Configure a user’s computer to recognize the shared printer and print.

Printer Preventive Maintenance

• Follow vendor's guidelines when performing preventive maintenance to keep the printer in good condition.
• Replace consumables using the manufacturer’s recommendations.
• Be aware that when the printer says its low, there will still be some printing that can be done, giving time to order.
• Keep the printer clean using the manufacturer’s instructions.
• • Clean the printheads or inkjet printer using the printer software.
  • Use a HEPA vacuum cleaner to remove toner particles in a laser printer.
  • Clean the heating element with isopropyl alcohol on a thermal printer.
• Keep the environment dry and clean.
• • Cool, dust free, dry environment
  • Keep the glass clean on the copier/scanner

Inkjet Printer

• Two methods of applying ink:
• • Thermal
  • • Bubble of steam applies ink.
  • Piezoelectric
  • • Electric vibrates crystal.

Factors that affect speed of Printer

• Image Quality
• Cache Size
• B/W or Color

5 Ways to Connect to a Printer

• Firewire
• Network / Ethernet
• USB
• Serial
• Wifi

Printer Driver

• Software that allows the printer and PC to communicate.
• Many times drivers need to be installed before the printer is in the PC.

“Five printers attached to my system, which one will the PC use first?”

• Default printer

Document/Printer Settings

• Global
• Per Document

Inkjet printer printing odd colors, not on screen?

• Calibrate

Network printer:

• Hi-Res Photos

LAN Users complain of a slow network when people print.

• Printer doesn’t have enough memory for print.

In Printer Settings there is an ‘additional drivers’ option, why?

• Supports other OS.

Windows 8.1, Share printer (USB) what do you configure?

• File/printer sharing

Extend the life of a thermal printer, what maintenance feature can you do?

• Clean the heating element with isopropyl alcohol

Definitions

• Collate
• • Gather pages.
• Duplex
• • Print dual-sided pages/paper.
• Grayscale
• • Printing using black, but different shades of black..
• Banner, Booklet, Poster…

Paper Jams

• Paper not loaded right.
• Wrong type of paper.
• High humidity.

What Permanently attaches the toner to the page?

• Fuser

Toner transferred from drum to paper?

• Top Circle - Drum
• Line - Paper
• Small Circle - Roller

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