Chapter 26: Printers and Multifunction Devices (A+ Study Notes)

A+

Study Notebook

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You can find my complete study notes in Google Docs format below: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zcKLWfsns1tqzmXtVRJbcd9NqfaEcjifgIo-oJIbEgc/edit?usp=sharing

References:
M. MEYERS, 2019.  CompTIA A+ All-in-One Exam Guide. 10th ed.

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Chapter 26: Printers and Multifunction Devices

• Impact printer / dot-matrix printer - (just like type-writer) - Creates an image on paper by physically striking an ink ribbon against the paper’s surface. 
• Very useful on printing multiple pages at the same time

• Laser Printers - uses toner cartridge/ photosensitive drum. Laser hits photosensitive drum, which consequently can hold electrical static charge. The more light it sees the smaller the charge will be at that spot.
  
  B&W printing process: 

1. Processing: Print jobs are stored in local printer memory 

2. Charging: Primary corona (a thin wire) which puts a strong negative charge  onto the drum -400V - -600V CHARGE 

3. Exposing: the actual process of laser hitting the drum and reducing the light -150 - -400V

4. Developing: Toner comes out and hits photosensitive drum - Toner is at -300V. Those particles with a lesser negative charge are positively charged relative to the toner particles and attract them, creating a developed image.

5. Transfer: Transfer Corona - puts a strong positive static charge +150V onto the paper itself. And when paper gets close to it, it transfers everything onto the paper. 

6. Fusing: Fusing assembly uses heat and pressure, preses the toner into it. A heated roller melts the toner to the paper permanently fixing it. And then static charge eliminator removes the papers positive charge. 

7. Cleaning

CMYK color printing process: 

...

• Inkjet printer - Use heat or mechanical process to push ink through the print heads to media
• Usually comes as an MFD (Multi function printer/ All-in-one printer) 
• Ink cartridges are heated up which shoot-out the ink in various specified directions. The print head moves jets back and forth across the entire sheet of paper with the help of the belt and rollers on either side.
• Thermal printer - it uses paper which is sensitive to heat 
• Commonly used in retail
  
• Dye-sublimation - uses heat to transfer dye onto materials such as plastic, card, paper, or fabric.
• 3D printing - usually melts some material in a pattern to create  3D shape. The process itself usually involves heating up various elements such s: filamen, extruder, and bed. 
• Spooler - keep all docs in a Queue 
• Printer mapping
• Setting up printer:
• Sharing:
• Control Panel > Devices and Printers > Right Click on the printer > Properties > Sharing Tab > Tick Share this printer and give name
• Security/Permissions:
• Control Panel > Devices and Printers > Right Click on the printer > Properties > Security Tab > in here you can add various groups and define the permissions
• Adding printer: 
• Printers & scanners > Add A new printer.. > If not found choose “Select a shared printer by name” e.g. \\computername\printername
• Mapping a printer:
• Powershell > `net use lpt1 \\computername\printername /persistent:yes`  (lpt1 is the old port number) 
• Control Panel > Devices and Printers>Add printer>Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer>The printer that I want isn’t listed > Add a printer using TCP/IP address or hostname > Leave the Device type set to Autodetect. Enter in the Hostname or IP address. Let the Port name automatically fill in. > If the drive is not automatically detected, you will need to know the manufacturer and printer type. Choose in the list and click Next. > Type Printer name > Decide ifyou want to share it or not > Done 
• Cloud /Wifi printing:
• Printer usually uses DHCP which means it gets its own IP assigned automatically.
• SLP (Service Location Protocol (MAC)) / LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol (WINDOWS))  - allows device to be discovered on the network 
• Zeroconf (Windows) / Bonjour (Mac) - automatically helps to detect wired printers
• AirPrinter (Windows) / AirPrint (Mac) - print without the need to download and install any drivers .
• Cloud printing / Google Cloud Printing 
• Printer Languages:
• ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) - contains 32 upper- and lowercase alphabetical letters, with a few extra special characters. ASCII also contains control codes for transferring data, some of which can be used to control printers
• Code 10 (0A hex) = Line Feed
• Code 12 (0C) = Form Feed
• PCL (HP Printer Command Language) - Developed by HP. More advanced than ASCII but doesn’t support high-end printing. Allows scalable fonts and additional line-drawing commands. 
• PostScript - developed by Adobe for high-res printing. Understood at a hardware level. Majority of processing is done at the printer. PostScript printers print faster. 
• Windows GDI (Graphics Device Interface) - it uses CPU, not the printer for the processing. And then send all the bitmaps of each page to the printer. As such it sees everything as images not text. 
• XPS (XML Paper Specification) - enhanced color management over GDI and better print layout.