The Evolution of Printing

The way in which printers work has changed quite considerably over the years. On the whole, people are actually printing much less than they used to, as much administration is now digitally managed.

Advances in printing technology are generally regarded as hugely beneficial developments. Just as internet connections have graduated from slow and unreliable dial-up systems, to far more advanced and efficient connections, printers have evolved greatly over the years. Whilst there is certainly much to be gained for this transition, it has not been without its problems.

Before computer technology, people relied on 'impact printers', similar to those used by a typewriter, which generate a certain amount of force in order to transfer ink to the page.

After this, one of the first printers to achieve popularity was the dot-matrix printer. These machines were particularly advanced at the time, in that by printing using a pattern of dots, or pixels, they also allowed for the inclusion of images within the page. Dot-matrix printers were originally designed to accommodate for DOS-programs and files, and are still generally considered the best at doing so without the use of supplementary programmes like DOSPRN.

However, the majority of printers in common use are now Laser printers. Whilst Line printers, which printed text line by line, were briefly popular, they were found to be more useful in bulk printing of barcode or banking documents. Laser printers, on the other hand, use a xerographic printing process involving a laser beam in order to produce high quality text and images in an extremely short amount of time.

The Laser printing process is arguably the most sophisticated form of printing in common use, however, by using programmes such as DOSPRN, you need not miss out on the advantages which early dot-matrix printers have in printing DOS programme files.