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Printers: What Really Happens When You Hit “Print”
By Bill Smith
You just poured hours upon hours into a lengthy research paper. All that’s left to do is print it out. And that’s the easy part, right? Sure looks easy from the user perspective, but it’s actually quite complicated. A series of critical processes kick off as soon as you kit the OK button.
The first thing that happens is your software application (MS Word, Excel, etc) sends the data you want to print to your printer driver. The printer driver is nothing more than some software that translates data into a format that your specific printer can understand. When you buy a new printer, it generally comes with a CD. On that CD is the printer driver software you need to enable your specific printer to talk to your computer.
The printer driver takes the translated data and physically sends it along to your printer. It’s able to connect to the printer via the USM connection interface. Much of the data received by the printer goes directly into the printer buffer, where it is stored. By storing the data within the printer itself you’re able to finish the print job quickly.
If you just turned your printer on for the first time in a while or if the printer has been standing idle for a while, the printer will run through a series of diagnostic tests. Some of these tests check he availability of ink, while others clean the print heads.
Once this preprinting step completes, your printer brain sends a message to the paper stepper motor telling it to engage the rollers and feed paper into the printer body. As the paper is being fed into the machine, the belt pulls the print head into “ready” position. When the paper is perfectly positioned, the print head goes to town, firing droplets of ink at the paper. With incredible speed and accuracy, the print head travels back and forth across the page spewing colors. When it reaches the end of the page, the stepper is quickly engaged, advancing the paper forward. This process continues until the print job is complete. About the Author Bill Smith is an editor at http://www.inkcartridgesworld.com. He has written hundreds of articles about printers and ink cartridges, some of which can be found at http://www.inkcartridgesworld.com.
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Some other articles by Bill Smith | Your Printer Is Out Of Ink -- Now What? We’ve all been there. You’re in the middle of printing out an important document and your printer suddenly stops. It’s the dreaded “out of ink” message. So you pull your backup ink cartridges out of ...
What you Need to Know Before Buying Your Next Printer There are many different printer types and models in the market today -- so many in fact that you really have to give serious thought to how you’re ...
The Truth About Printer Paper Contrary to popular belief, the quality of your printer paper can have a serious impact on the quality of your printer output. You can buy the best printer in the word ...
The Printer Cartridge Game Think you got a great deal on a printer? Like the rest of us, you probably paid $50 to $75 for a decent Epson or Lexmark printer. What’s the catch, you might have asked? Most ...
Is A Laser Printer Right For Me? The average home computer user definitely does not need a laser printer. Sure laser printer prices have fallen considerably in the last couple ...
Getting to Know Inkjet Printers Inkjet printers were born in the 1980s, replacing the popular dot matrix printer. Inkjet printers drop droplets of ink onto printer paper to produce text and images. The drops of ink are actually smaller ...
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