Throughout the history of humankind, people had realized the importance of keeping records of information that could be easily retrieved, and relied upon at any time. And so, printing was invented for meeting the purpose. When computers came into the picture, printing remained as one of the main methods for recording information permanently. And so, printers for computer systems were being developed. We shall now look at how computer printers began, and the history of every technology used.

The first computer printer.
The first computer printer was a printing device constructed to be used with the Univac computer by Remington Rand in 1953.(1) Since then, various technologies had been adopted for the computer printer.

The laser printer.
The IBM 3800 was the first laser printer. It was introduced in 1975.(2) However, the technology for the laser printer began with a man by the name of Chester Carlson, In 1938, Carlson invented a dry printing process known as electrography which would later be adopted in the laser printers of today.(3) However, the laser printer was not the first high speed computer printer. The printer for the Univac computer mentioned earlier was the pioneer.(4)

The dot-matrix printer.
The LA30, produced by Digital Equipment Corporation in 1970, was the first dot-matrix printer for the computer. This printer could print at the speed of 30 characters per second. A stepper motor drove its printhead. A noisy ratchet drive advanced the paper.(5). In the same year, Centronics Data Computer Corporation produced a dot-matrix, the Model 101 that was capable of printing 165 characters per second.(6). The technology used in the dot-matrix printers was
first introduced with the Type 26 Keypunch in 1949. The technology was an innovation of IBM's Reynold B. Johnson.(7)

The ink-jet printer.
In 1979, Hewlett-Packard(HP) introduced a new type of printer. It was the laserjet.(8). Unlike today's versions, the HP version was slow, smeared on papers, and had troublesome ink cartridges.(9). Although HP was the first to introduce the inkjet, the technology behind it was invented by Canon.(10) Today inkjets are one of the most available printers in the world. You can see such printers in electronic and computer shops.

The daisy wheel printer.
The daisy wheel printer was first introduced in 1970.(11). It is a printer where a hammer strikes on characters on "petals" arranged in a circle.(12). Such printers are not longer in great demand due

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