Printer Technologies, Components, and Networking Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering printer types, components, processes, networking, and security concepts from the lecture notes.

Laser Printer

A printer that uses a laser or LEDs to create an electrostatic image on an imaging drum and fuses toner to paper; offers fast, high-quality, dry prints with low cost per page.

Inkjet Printer

A printer that sprays liquid ink through microscopic nozzles; inexpensive, high-resolution, quick warm-up, but prone to clogged nozzles and costly cartridges.

Dot Matrix Printer

An impact printer that strikes an inked ribbon with a matrix of pins to form characters; useful for carbon copies and continuous forms.

Thermal Printer

A quiet printer that uses heat to create images on specially coated paper; common in retail receipts and older fax machines.

3D Printer

An additive manufacturing device that builds three-dimensional objects layer by layer using plastic filament or other media.

Impact Printer

Printer category (e.g., dot matrix, daisy wheel) that physically strikes an inked ribbon; inexpensive ribbons and carbon-copy capability but noisy and low-resolution.

Virtual Printer

Software option that “prints” a document to a file format (PDF, XPS, image, .prn) instead of paper.

Pages Per Minute (PPM)

Speed metric indicating how many pages a printer can output in one minute; varies by model and image complexity.

Dots Per Inch (DPI)

Quality metric measuring the number of ink or toner dots in one inch; higher DPI equals sharper text and images.

CMYK

Color model using cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black) inks in inkjet color printing.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

Overall expense of a printer—including purchase price, consumables, price per page, monthly page count, maintenance, and warranty costs.

Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)

Average operational time a printer should function before failing; listed in manufacturer specifications.

Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)

Mechanical slot on some printers/MFDs that feeds multi-page originals automatically for copying or scanning.

Multi-Function Device (MFD)

Printer that combines printing, copying, scanning (and often faxing) in a single network-capable unit.

Imaging Drum

Light-sensitive cylinder in a laser printer where the electrostatic image is formed before toner transfer.

Toner Cartridge

Consumable container holding negatively charged plastic/metal toner powder for laser printing.

Fuser Assembly

Pair of heated rollers in a laser printer that melts and bonds toner permanently to paper.

Transfer Roller

Component that helps move toner from the imaging drum onto the paper in a laser printer.

Pickup Roller

Rubberized roller that pulls paper from the tray into the print path.

Duplexing Assembly

Mechanism that flips paper inside a printer so both sides can be printed automatically.

Print Head (Inkjet)

Assembly containing microscopic nozzles that spray ink onto paper in an inkjet printer.

Thermal Inkjet Nozzle

Inkjet technology that uses a heated chamber to create a steam bubble, forcing ink through the nozzle.

Piezoelectric Inkjet Nozzle

Inkjet technology using a vibrating piezo crystal to control ink flow through the nozzle.

Roller (Paper Feed)

Cylinder that moves paper through the printer’s path during printing.

Feeder (Paper Tray)

Tray or cassette that holds blank paper and supplies it to the printer rollers.

Carriage Belt

Motor-driven belt that moves the print head and cartridges back and forth across the page in an inkjet printer.

Hotend Nozzle (3D)

Heated tip of a 3D printer that melts and extrudes filament to build layers.

Filament (3D)

Thermoplastic or other material fed into a 3D printer to create objects.

Axis (3D Printer)

Horizontal or vertical rail along which the hotend travels to position filament precisely in three-dimensional space.

Print Bed

Flat platform on a 3D printer where layers of molten filament are deposited to form the object.

Print Spool

Temporary storage area where print jobs wait before being sent to the printer; managed by driver software.

Printer Calibration

Driver-initiated alignment and color-matching process ensuring accurate output across media types.

Firmware Update (Printer)

Installing new embedded software on a printer to add features or fix issues, similar to driver updates.

Printer Memory Upgrade

Adding RAM to a printer to speed processing and handle complex or large print jobs.

Print to File

Saving formatted printer output as a .prn or other file type for later direct printing.

Print to PDF

Virtual printing that outputs a document in Adobe’s Portable Document Format for easy sharing and preservation.

Print to XPS

Virtual printing that creates a Microsoft XML Paper Specification file as an alternative to PDF.

Cloud Printing

Sending a print job over the internet to a remote or home printer accessible via cloud services.

Bluetooth Printing

Short-range wireless printing achieved by pairing a printer with a computer or mobile device via Bluetooth.

Wi-Fi Printing

Printing over an 802.11 wireless network; can operate in infrastructure or ad-hoc mode.

Software Print Server

Computer running software that shares a locally attached printer with network users; depends on host’s uptime.

Hardware Print Server

Standalone network device with its own NIC and memory that connects to a printer to enable sharing.

Dedicated Print Server

More powerful server with processor, storage, and memory to manage many users and queued print jobs in large networks.

Hard Drive Caching (Printer)

Storage of print files on a printer’s internal drive; poses privacy risks if sensitive jobs are retrieved.

User Authentication (Printer)

Security measure requiring users to log in or present credentials before printing to prevent unauthorized use.

Data Privacy (Print Jobs)

Concern that print data sent over a network could be intercepted, copied, or altered if not secured.

Collated Printing

Output option that prints multi-page documents in complete, ordered sets (1-2-3, 1-2-3) instead of page stacks.

Additive Manufacturing

Another term for 3D printing, referring to the layer-by-layer addition of material to create objects.