character-at-a-time printer

Thân thiện

A student watches a character-at-a-time printer type a school report.

Definition

Noun A character-at-a-time printer is a type of computer printer that prints one character at a time onto paper. It is an older technology that forms and prints each letter, number, or symbol individually, rather than printing an entire line or page at once.

Usage

This term is used to classify and describe a specific category of printing hardware, primarily in historical or technical contexts. It contrasts with line printers and page printers. * The museum's computing exhibit featured a classic character-at-a-time printer from the 1970s. * Early teletype machines functioned as character-at-a-time printers.

Advanced Usage

• Technical Specification: In detailed technical comparisons, "character-at-a-time printer" specifies the fundamental mechanical operation, often synonymous with "serial printer."
  • For this legacy system, you will need a compatible character-at-a-time printer with a Centronics parallel interface.

Variants and Related Words

• Serial Printer: A common synonym for a character-at-a-time printer, emphasizing the sequential data transmission.
• Line Printer: A printer that prints an entire line of characters at once.
• Page Printer: A printer (like a laser printer) that renders and prints an entire page at a time.

Synonyms

• Serial printer
• Character printer

Antonyms

• Line printer
• Page printer

Học thuật

Noun

1. a printer that prints a single character at a time

Từ đồng nghĩa

• character printer
• serial printer