Chapter 4: Printers

Labs you will perform in this chapter:

• Lab 4.1: Printers and Printer Interfaces

• Lab 4.2: Installing an Imaginary Printer in a Windows 98 System

• Lab 4.3: Installing an Imaginary Printer in a Windows XP System

At some point, most computer users need to print the information they have created and collected on their computer. In this chapter, we will go over some of the issues involved in attaching a printer to a computer.

Three major types of printers are used today. Laser printers are used for high-volume print applications, whereas the less expensive bubble-jet printers are used for small print volumes. Dot-matrix printers are used when an impact printer is needed—for instance, when working with multipart forms.

The printer interface is a critical part of PC printer selection and configuration. Generally, you purchase a printer for the port that is available. Most new computers have a USB interface as well as serial and parallel interfaces available, although older computers do not support USB interfaces.

Note

For more information, see Chapter 4 of David Groth’s A+ Complete Study Guide (Sybex, 2003).