XPost: comp.periphs.printers
From the «miss that awesome sound» department:
Title: How dot matrix printers created text
Author: Thom Holwerda
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 2024 22:15:43 +0000
Link:
https://www.osnews.com/story/140137/how-dot-matrix-printers-created-text/
The impact printer was a mainstay of the early desktop computing era. Also called “dot matrix printers,” these printers could print low-resolution yet very readable text on a page, and do so quickly and at a low price point. But these printers are a relic of the past; in 2024, you might find them printing invoices or shipping labels, although more frequently these use cases have
been replaced by other types of printers such as thermal printers and laser printers.
[…]
The heart of the impact printer is the print head. The print head contained a column of pins (9 pins was common) that moved across the page. Software in
the printer controlled when to strike these pins through an inked ribbon to place a series of “dots” on a page. By carefully timing the pin strikes with
the movement of the print head, the printer could control where each dot was placed. A column of dots might represent the vertical stroke of the letter H,
a series of single dots created the horizontal bar, and another column would create the final vertical stroke.
↫ Jim Hall at Technically We Write[1]
Our first printer was a dot matrix model, from I think a brand called Star or something similar. Back then, in 1991 or so, a lot of employers in The Netherlands offered programs wherein employees could buy computers through their work, offered at a certain discount. My parents jumped on the opportunity when my mom’s employer offered such a program, and through it, we bought a brand new 286 machine running MS-DOS and Windows 3.0, and it included said dot matrix printer.
There’s something about the sound and workings of a dot matrix printer that just can’t be bested by modern ink, laser, or LED printers. The mechanical punching, at such a fast rate it sounded like a tiny Gatling gun, was mesmerising, especially when paired with continuous form paper. Carefully ripping off the perforated edges of the paper after printing was just a nice bonus that entertained me quite a bit as a child.
I was surprised to learn that dot matrix printers are still being manufactured and sold today, and even comes in colour. They’re quite a bit more expensive than other printer types these days, but I have a feeling they’re aimed at enterprises and certain niches, which probably means they’re going to be of considerably higher quality than all the other junk printers that clog the market. With a bit more research, it might actually be possible to find a brand new colour dot matrix printer that is a better choice than some of the modern alternatives.
The fact that I’m not contemplating buying a brand new dot matrix printer in 2024, even though I rarely print, is a mildly worrying development.
Links:
[1]:
https://technicallywewrite.com/2024/07/01/dotmatrix (link)
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)