Types of Printers

Printing is the final stage in creating a document. This is the purpose of printers joined to your computing equipment. Since the results you can obtain with different types of printers will vary substantially, here is a guide to help you decide which one is most suitable for your needs.

To begin with, it must be taken into account that printers vary in cost, speed, print quality and other factors such as noise or compatibility. In fact, printing technology is evolving so quickly that there is always a printer for every application or personal requirement.

Dot-matrix printers use pins to print the dots required to shape a character. They print text and graphics and nowadays some of them can print up to 500 characters per second (cps); however, they produce relatively low resolution output - 72 or 144 dots per inch. This level of quality, while suitable for preliminary drafts, is not reccomended for reports or books that have a wide audience. They are slower than laser printers but much cheaper.

One common type of non-impact printer is an ink-jet printer. It operates by projecting small ink droplets onto paper to form the required image. This type of printer is quite fast, silent and not so expensive as a laser printer. Nevertheless, you can expect high quality results because there are some ink-jet printers on the market with a resolution of 720 dpi.

Laser printers produce output at a great speed and with a very high resolution of 600/2,400 dpi. They can scan the image with a laser beam and transfer it to paper with a special ink powder. They are constantly being improved. In terms of speed and image quality they are preferred by experts for different reasons: they have a wider range of scalable fonts, they can emulate different language systems, they can produce graphics, and they have many other advantages. It goes without saying that they are still expensive for home users.

We must not forget to mention thermal printers. They use heat, a special kind of paper and electrosensitive methods. They are silent and considered to be inexpensive. However, some colour models that emulate HP (Hewlett Packard) plotters cost too much to be included in the same category.

Imagesetters can be regarded as an attractive alternative. They produce very high-resolution output (up to 3,540 dpi) on paper or microfilm. In addition, they are extremely fast. They are used in desktop publishing. Although they produce the highest quality output, they have one important drawback: they are too expensive for homes or small offices.

Plotters are a special kind of printer. Plotters use ink and fine pens held in a carriage to draw very detailed designs on a paper. They are used for construction plans, engineering drawings and other technical illustrations.

 Plotter pens

     Chamamos de "Linking Devices" ou "Linking Words" (LW) àquelas palavras que, no texto, ligam sentenças ou parágrafos fazendo um relacionamento entre eles.

      Em geral, a presença das LW tornam o texto mais fácil de ler e permitem ao leitor antecipar os desdobramentos das ideias que estão sendo apresentadas na medida em que estabelecem e enfatizam relações semânticas variadas entre o que já foi dito e o que ainda o será. Assim, de acordo com a LW usada, o leitor desenvolverá expectativas acerca dos fatos em discussão. Desse modo, é importante que o leitor conheça a ideia contida em cada uma delas a fim de poder direcionar suas expectativas corretamente, dando ao texto a coesão e a coerência que se fizerem necessárias para o seu perfeito e total entendimento.

      As LW podem indicar a inserção de um fato no tempo, que uma informação adicional está a caminho, que uma informação contendo oposição ou semelhança será apresentada, que um efeito, resultante de uma causa vem a seguir, etc.

the first, the second,the third...
one, two, three...
finally, lastly, then, another; firstly,secondly...
To begin with