Editing Printer (computing) (section)

==History==
The first computer printer designed was a mechanically driven apparatus by [[Charles Babbage]] for his [[difference engine]] in the 19th century; however, his mechanical printer design was not built until 2000.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/710950.stm |title=Babbage printer finally runs |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=13 April 2000 |access-date=6 December 2010 |archive-date=11 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111224712/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/710950.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> He also had plans for a curve plotter, which would have been the first computer graphics printer if it was built.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Eccles |first=Simon |date=2019-12-13 |title=How Charles Babbage invented computer printing |url=https://www.printweek.com/content/features/how-charles-babbage-invented-computer-printing/ |access-date=2025-04-26 |website=[[Printweek]] |language=en}}</ref>

The first patented printing mechanism for applying a marking medium to a recording medium or more particularly an electrostatic inking apparatus and a method for electrostatically depositing ink on controlled areas of a receiving medium, was in 1962 by C. R. Winston, Teletype Corporation, using continuous inkjet printing. The ink was a red stamp-pad ink manufactured by Phillips Process Company of Rochester, NY under the name Clear Print. This patent (US3060429) led to the Teletype Inktronic Printer product delivered to customers in late 1966.<ref>{{cite web |last=Jim |first=Haynes |publisher=Southwest Museum of Engineering Communications and Computation |title=Archivist |url=http://www.smecc.org/teletype_inktronic.htm |access-date=29 May 2021 |archive-date=21 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021152339/http://www.smecc.org/teletype_inktronic.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The first compact, lightweight digital printer was the [[EP-101]], invented by Japanese company [[Seiko Epson|Epson]] and released in 1968, according to Epson.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web
  |title=The world's first smallest digital printer - and progenitor of Epson
  |url=https://global.epson.com/company/corporate_history/milestone_products/04_ep-101.html
  |access-date=17 February 2022
  |archive-date=5 July 2022
  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705210550/https://global.epson.com/company/corporate_history/milestone_products/04_ep-101.html
  |url-status=live
  }}</ref><ref>{{citation
|url=https://news.dphotographer.co.uk/news/40-years-since-epsons-first-electronic-printer%E2%80%A6
|title=40 years since Epson's first Electronic Printer
|publisher=Digital Photographer
|access-date=6 May 2017
|archive-date=6 August 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806181011/https://news.dphotographer.co.uk/news/40-years-since-epsons-first-electronic-printer%E2%80%A6/
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>[http://assets.epson-europe.com/eu/epson_eu/about_us.html About Epson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227084609/http://assets.epson-europe.com/eu/epson_eu/about_us.html |date=27 February 2017 }}, [[Seiko Epson|Epson]]</ref>

The first commercial printers generally used mechanisms from [[Typewriter#Electric designs|electric typewriters]] and [[Teleprinter|Teletype]] machines. The demand for higher speed led to the development of new systems specifically for computer use. In the 1980s there were [[daisy wheel printing|daisy wheel]] systems similar to typewriters, [[line printer]]s that produced similar output but at much higher speed, and [[Dot matrix printing|dot-matrix]] systems that could mix text and graphics but produced relatively low-quality output. The [[plotter]] was used for those requiring high-quality line art like [[blueprint]]s.

The introduction of the low-cost laser printer in 1984, with the first [[HP LaserJet]],<ref name=LJ84.NYT>{{cite news
   |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
   |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/20/science/peripherals-the-allure-of-laser-printers.html
   |title=Peripherals - the allure of Laser Printers
   |author=Peter H. Lewis
   |date=20 November 1984
   |access-date=3 April 2019
   |archive-date=3 April 2019
   |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403031614/https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/20/science/peripherals-the-allure-of-laser-printers.html
   |url-status=live
   }}</ref> and the addition of [[PostScript]] in next year's [[LaserWriter|Apple LaserWriter]] set off a revolution in printing known as [[desktop publishing]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kaplan|first=Soren|date=1999|title=Discontinuous innovation and the growth paradox|journal=Strategy & Leadership|volume=27|issue=2|pages=16–21|doi=10.1108/eb054631}}</ref> Laser printers using PostScript mixed text and graphics, like dot-matrix printers, but at quality levels formerly available only from commercial [[typesetting]] systems. By 1990, most simple printing tasks like fliers and brochures were now created on [[personal computer]]s and then laser printed; expensive [[offset printing]] systems were being dumped as scrap. The [[HP Deskjet]] of 1988 offered the same advantages as a laser printer in terms of flexibility, but produced somewhat lower-quality output (depending on the paper) from much less-expensive mechanisms. Inkjet systems rapidly displaced dot-matrix and daisy-wheel printers from the market. By the 2000s, high-quality printers of this sort had fallen under the $100 price point and became commonplace.

The rapid improvement of [[internet]] [[email]] through the 1990s and into the 2000s has largely displaced the need for printing as a means of moving documents, and a wide variety of reliable storage systems means that a "physical backup" is of little benefit today.

Starting around 2010, [[3D printing]] became an area of intense interest, allowing the creation of physical objects with the same sort of effort as an early laser printer required to produce a brochure. As of the 2020s, 3D printing has become a widespread hobby due to the abundance of cheap 3D printer kits, with the most common process being [[Fused filament fabrication#Fused deposition modeling|Fused deposition modeling]].