Output Devices : Daisy Wheel Printers

Daisy wheel printers are a type of impact printer which are rarely used any more. A daisy wheel printer hammers character stamps (like those on typewriters) against a ribbon to produce high quality text output.

The character patterns are all arranged around the edge of a wheel. When a letter is to be printed the wheel rotates so that the correct letter is lined up with the ribbon. The wheel is then pressed against the ribbon to print the character on the paper.

Daisy wheel printers are very slow and noisy. It is not possible to print graphics using a daisy wheel printer.

GCSE ICT Companion 04 - (C) P Meakin 2004