printer technologies and installation

© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

Mike Meyers’ CompTIA A+® Guide to 801:

Managing and Troubleshooting PCs

Fourth Edition (Exam 220-801)

Printer Technologies and Installation

Chapter 19





Overview

• In this chapter, you will learn how to

– Describe current printer technologies

– Explain the laser printing process

– Install a printer on a Windows PC





Six Types of Printers

– Impact printers

– Inkjet printers

– Dye-sublimation printers

– Thermal printers

– Solid ink printers

– Laser printers





Impact Printers

• Impact printers leave an image on the paper– Physically strike an inked ribbon against the surface

of the paper– Relatively slow and noisy– Used for multipart forms

• Point of sale receipts• Offices





Dot-Matrix Printers

• Dot-matrix printers– Use an array of pins known as printwires to strike

an inked printer ribbon and produce images – The case that holds the print wires is called

the printhead– Use either 9-pin (draft quality) or 24-pin (letter or

near-letter quality)





Dot-Matrix Printers (continued)

Figure 1: An Epson FX-880+ dot-matrix printer(photo courtesy of Epson America, Inc.)





Dot-Matrix Printers (continued)

Figure 2: Inside a dot-matrix printer





Inkjet Printers

• An inkjet printer uses a printhead connected to a carriage that contains the ink. A belt and motor move the carriage back and forth so the ink can cover the whole page. A roller grabs paper from a paper tray (usually under or inside the printer) or feeder (usually on the back of the printer) and advances it through the printer.





Inkjet Printers (continued)

Figure 3: Typical inkjet printer






• Inkjet printers– Simple devices that consist of the following:

• Printhead, support electronics, a transfer mechanism, and a paper-feed component

– Work by ejecting ink through tiny tubes• Ink is heated by tiny resistors or electroconductive

plates at the end of each tube.• The resistors or plates boil the ink, which creates a

tiny air bubble that ejects a droplet of ink onto the paper.

• Some inkjets use mechanical methods to eject ink.

• Most color printers are inkjet and produce a high-quality image.






Figure 4: Inside an inkjet printer






Figure 5: Detail of the inkjet printhead






• Older inkjets had two ink cartridges– Black– Color

• Newer ones have four– Black– Cyan– Magenta– Yellow

• Or more . . .• Still outrageously expensive

– Cost of replacements more than cost of printer!






Figure 6: Inkjet ink cartridges





• Print resolution– Density of the ink– Dots per inch (dpi)

• Print speed– Pages per minute (ppm)

• Can print to almost anything• Modern inks of archival quality

(200+ years)

Inkjet Key Features





Dye-Sublimation Printers

• Dye-sublimation printers (or thermal dye transfer printers) use sublimation.– Sublimation causes something to change from a

solid form into a vapor. – Desublimation changes the vapor back to a solid. – Used for fine detail and rich color– Requires one pass for each color– Produces high-quality output





Dye-Sublimation Printers (continued)

• Uses CMYK method of printing – Cyan, magenta, yellow, black

• Roll of heat-sensitive plastic film embedded with dye

• Fine printhead that vaporizes the dyes onto special paper

• Requires four passes to complete• Creates continuous tone images

– Other processes create dithered images where the dots fake the blended colors.

– Professional-caliber output





Dye-Sublimation Printers (continued)

Figure 7: The dye-sublimation printing process





Thermal Printers

• Thermal printers – Two types: direct thermal and thermal wax– Direct thermal

• Same as first generation of fax machines• Use a heated printhead to burn dots into the surface

of special heat-sensitive paper• Still used for receipts at some businesses

– Thermal wax transfer• Like dye-sublimation printers• Use film coated with colored wax that gets melted

onto page• No need for special paper• But dithered images





Laser Printers

• Laser printers use a mechanism called electro-photographic imaging.– Produce high-quality and high-speed output of both

text and graphics– More expensive to purchase than inkjet or impact

printers– Far less expensive over the lifespan of the printer

when you factor in consumables– Use lasers as a light source





Laser Printers (continued)

Figure 8: Typical laser printer





Laser Printer Parts

• Toner cartridge– Holds the toner– Many other parts that suffer the most wear and tear

are contained in the toner cartridge.• Photosensitive drum

– Aluminum cylinder coated with particles of photosensitive compounds

• Erase lamp– Exposes the entire surface of the photosensitive

drum to light, draining any electrical charge





Laser Printer Parts (continued)

Figure 9: Components inside a laser printer






Figure 10: Laser printer’s toner cartridge





• Primary corona/charge roller– Enables voltage to pass to the drum and charge the

photosensitive particles on its surface– Creates a uniform negative charge

(~600 to ~1000 volts)

• Laser– Acts as the writing mechanism of the printer– Discharges areas on drum to negative ~100 volts






• Toner– Fine powder made up of plastic particles bonded to

iron particles– Charged by toner cylinder to negative ~200 to

~500 volts– Attracted to the parts of the drum struck by the

laser






• Transfer corona/transfer roller– Applies a positive charge to the paper– Negatively charged toner is attracted to the

positively charged paper.– Static eliminator removes charge.

• Fuser assembly– Attaches the toner permanently to the paper using

a pressure roller and heated roller






• Primary power supply– Provides power to the motors that move the paper,

system electronics, and transfer corona

• High-voltage power supply – Provides power to the primary corona– When inserting a new toner cartridge, always turn

the laser printer off before opening it.

• Turning gears– Discrete units called gear packs or gearboxes






• System board – Contains the main processor, ROM, and RAM– ROM can often be flashed.– Insufficient RAM can result in memory overflow error.

• Ozone filter – Ozone (O3) generated by coronas can damage printer

components.– Filter needs to be replaced periodically.

• Sensors and switches – Detect paper jams, empty paper trays, low toner

levels, and so on






Solid Ink Printers

• Use solid sticks of non-toxic “ink”• Produces vibrant color• Ink is melted and absorbed into the

paper fibers.• Only needs a single pass• More expensive than other printers

– But ink sticks are significantly less expensive than inkjet cartridges.





Printer Languages

• American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) – Basic alphanumeric characters and a variety of

control codes for transferring data and controlling printers

– Limited in its capability

• The PostScript page description language (PDL) developed by Adobe– Device-independent printer language capable of

high-resolutions and scalable fonts– Printers print faster because most of the image

processing is done by the printer and not the PC;PostScript defines page as single raster image.

– PostScript files are very portable.





Printer Languages (continued)

• Hewlett Packard developed the Printer Command Language (PCL).– Expanded set of printer commands– Dependent on the printer hardware– Does not support advanced graphical functions– Does not define the page as a single raster image





Printer Languages (continued)

• Windows XP uses the Windows graphical device interface (GDI).– The operating system handles print functions.– If the printer has a capable raster image processor

and enough RAM, you don’t need to worry about the printer language.

• Windows Vista and 7 use the XML Paper Specification (XPS) print path.– XPS provides improved color management and

print layout fidelity.– Vista and 7 also still support GDI.





Printer Connectivity

• Most local printers connect to one of two ports on the PC.– DB-25 parallel port– USB port– Ethernet and Wi-Fi are becoming more common.

• The parallel port was a lot faster than the existing serial ports at the time.– But it is slow by today’s standards, with a

maximum data transfer rate of 150 KBps.– Standard parallel ports lack bidirectional

capabilities.





IEEE 1284 Standard

• The IEEE 1284 standard defines a high-speed bidirectional parallel port with backward compatibility.

• The IEEE 1284 standard requires– Support for five modes of operation

• Compatibility mode, nibble mode, byte mode, EPP, ECP

– Standard methods of negotiation for determining which modes are supported

– A standard physical interface– A standard electrical interface





Setting Up Parallel Ports

• Use the System Setup utility to configure parallel ports built into motherboards.

• Three options– SPP (150 KBps transfers)– ECP (~ 2 MBps transfers)– EPP (~2.5 MBps transfers)

• Choose the option that best fits your device (e.g., ECP for the last generation of parallel laser printers).





Parallel Connections, Cabling, and Electricity

• A standard printer cable – A male DB-25 connector on one end and a 36-pin

Centronics connector on the other

• Acceptable for transferring data at 150 KBps at distances of less than

6 feet• IEEE 1284-compliant cable

– Can be up to 32 feet (10 m)– Required for bidirectional printing





Parallel Connections, Cabling, and Electricity (continued)

Figure 11: Standard parallel cable with 36-pin Centronics connector on one end and DB-25 connector on the other





USB Printers

• Most new printers use USB connections.– Most use USB type A on one end and USB type B on

the other end.





Network and Other Printers

• Printers can be connected on a network.– Needs NIC and connection (typically RJ-45)– Needs IP address (either manually assigned or

automatically assigned from DHCP)– Can be connected to print server– Some also have wireless, IR, and Bluetooth

capabilities.

• Other printers– Rare, but may see serial or SCSI printers





• Click [Print].

• CPU sends print job to print spooler.

• Spooler can handle multiple print jobs in the print queue.– Spooler is a service.– Killing the spooler service deletes all print jobs.

• Print device takes it from there.

The Electronic Printing Process





• Raster image– Impact printers print a line at a time.– Laser printers generate a raster image of the page.– A raster image is a pattern of dots.– The raster image processor (RIP) chip translates the

raster image into commands for the laser printer.

The Electronic Printing Process (continued)






• RIP needs RAM in order to store this data.– Mem Overflow error indicates insufficient RAM.

• Add RAM, reduce the resolution, or print smaller graphics.

– HP LaserJet 21 error means the data is too complex.• Reduce complexity by using fewer fonts and less

formatting, reducing graphics resolution, and so on.

• Resolution enhancement technology (RET)

– Enables the printer to insert smaller dots among the characters to smooth out jagged curves.

– Disabling RET helps reduce MEM OVERFLOW errors.





• Resolution– A laser printer can print at different resolutions.– Resolution is expressed in dots per inch (dpi)—

for example, 600 × 600 or 1200 × 1200 dpi.• The first number is the horizontal resolution—how fine

a focus can be achieved by the laser.• The second number is the vertical resolution—the

smallest increment by which the drum can be turned.







Figure 12: RET fills in gaps with smaller dots to smooth out jagged characters.





Physical Side of the Process

• Six steps of the physical laser printing process– Charging– Exposing– Developing– Transferring– Fusing– Cleaning





• The drum is charged by applying a negative charge to the entire surface.– Charged by primary corona wire– Between ~600 and ~1000 volts

Charging the Drum





Charging the Drum (continued)

Figure 13: Charging the drum with a uniform negative charge





Exposing and Developing the Image

• A laser is used to write and develop an image on the surface of the drum.– Every particle hit by the laser releases most of its

negative charge into the drum.– Toner is attracted to the more positively charged

areas of the drum; this is the develop portion of the process.





Exposing and Developing the Image (continued)

Figure 14: Writing the image and applying the toner





• Using the transfer corona, the paper is charged positively.– The negatively charged toner particles leap from

the drum to the paper.

Transfer the Image





Fuse the Image

• Image fused to the paper– The heat roller, made of a nonstick material, and

the pressure roller are used to fuse the image onto the paper.

– Toner particles melted into the page.– Static charge eliminator removes the charge from

the paper.– This prevents the paper from sticking to the drum.





Fuse the Image (continued)

Figure 15: Transferring the image to the paper and fusing the final image





Clean the Drum

• Printing process ends by physically and electrically cleaning the photosensitive drum. – Physically by scraping the surface of the drum with

a rubber cleaning blade – Electrically with an erase lamp to completely

discharge any particles





Clean the Drum (continued)

Figure 16: Cleaning and erasing the drum





Printing in Windows

• The physical printer is called a print device.– The printer is a program that controls one or more

print devices.– One printer can support more than one print device.– Print drivers– Print spooler





Printing in Windows (continued)

Figure 17: Printer driver and spooler in Windows





Setting Up Printers

• If the printer is not detected, use the Printers applet from the Control Panel and select Add Printer (XP), or the Printer icon (Vista).– Windows has an option that will automatically

detect and install a plug-and-play printer.

• The Add Printer Wizard enables you to install a local printer or a network printer.– Windows divides printer installation into two

scenarios: a printer connected directly to a PC or a standalone printer connected to a switch or router.





Setting Up Printers (continued)

Figure 18: Automatically detecting plug-and-play printers in Windows XP






• Installing a local printer:– Since Windows will automatically detect and install

USB printers (or any other plug-and-play printer), this option is most commonly used to install printers using a parallel connection or to install standalone network printers using an IP address.

– Should not need to use Add Printer Wizard or IP address with a standalone USB printer.






• Installing a local printer (continued):– Windows won’t automatically detect a new parallel

device. For a parallel port printer using Windows XP, check the Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer option.

– When you check this box and click Next, Windows XP will run a search for any plug-and-play printers, including those connected via parallel cables.

– Windows Vista and Windows 7 don’t include this option; you’ll need to configure parallel-connected printers manually by selecting a port and driver.






• Installing a local printer (continued):– If you need to install a standalone network printer

using its IP address, uncheck the Automatically detect and install my Plug and Play printer option in Windows XP and click Next. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, click Add a local printer. In the Create a new port drop-down box, select Standard TCP/IP Port. Click Next. Type the IP address here.






• Installing a local printer (continued):– Whether you use a parallel port or a TCP/IP port,

you’ll need to manually select the proper driver from Windows drivers or a supplied disk (requires admin privileges).

– You must decide whether the new local printer should be the default printer and whether you want to share it with other PCs on the network.






Figure 19: Selecting drivers






• Installing a network printer—setup is not much different than installing a standalone– In Windows Vista or Windows 7, the Add Printer

Wizard will scan for any available printers on your local network, and the printer will appear.

– If you need to, you can pick from a list of available drivers or use the disc that came with the printer.

– Windows XP doesn’t include this automatic discovery feature, and if Windows Vista or Windows 7 fails to find your printer, you’ll need to configure the network printer manually.






Figure 20: List of available shared printers on a network






• Installing a network printer (continued)– If you are on a workgroup, you can browse for a

printer on your network, connect to a specific printer (using its name or URL), or use a TCP/IP address or hostname (Windows Vista and 7 only).

– In a domain, most of those options remain the same, except that instead of browsing the workgroup, you can search and browse the domain using several search parameters, including printer features, printer location, and more.






Figure 21: Options for finding network printers






• Installing a network printer (continued)– If you are a member of a Windows 7 homegroup

and printer sharing is enabled, all printers connected to the homegroup are shared with you automatically.

– The process for sharing a local printer and a network printer is identical, because Windows considers both printers to be installed on your PC and under your control.






Figure 22: Installed default printer in the Printers and Faxes applet





Optimizing Print Performance

• Printout may not match screen colors.– Monitors use RGB.– Printers use CMYK.– They don’t always match exactly.

• Calibration– Manually calibrate monitor

• Print a test image and adjust monitor to match printout

– Automatically calibrate printer• Use an International Color Consortium (ICC) color profile• Instructs the printer to print colors a certain way

– DisplayMate– ColorVision Spyder





Optimizing Print Performance (continued)

• Add memory– Best first upgrade for printers– Increases speed, especially with graphics

• Install a network card– Better printers can be freed from needing print

server– Only need DHCP (and DNS)





Optimizing Print Performance (continued)

• Configure application to request low- resolution or draft mode.– Optimizing increases print speed.– Creates a lower quality image—but does so quickly

• Manage printer availability– Can set when particular printers are available– Use to restrict access to printer during critical times– Right-click printer | Properties | Advanced tab





Beyond A+

• Multifunction peripherals—manufacturers started combining various peripherals to create multifunction peripherals, or MFPs.

• These devices can include printers, scanners, fax machines, photocopiers, and more.

• All of the standard connection options are available, including USB, parallel, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and more.





Beyond A+ (continued)

• All functions are available using a single connection.

• Many multifunction devices also include functions that don’t require a PC at all, such as photocopying and faxing.– You can even print files from a digital camera’s

memory card without plugging the MFP into a PC.





Beyond A+ (continued)

Figure 23: All-in-one printer/scanner/fax machine/copier/coffee maker/iPod dock

printer technologies and installation

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