Editing Dot matrix printing (section)

==PC usage==
In 1985, ''PC Magazine'' wrote "for the average personal computer user dot matrix remains the most workable choice".<ref name="NYT.PCdot85"/> At the time, IBM sold [[Epson]]'s [[Epson MX-80|MX-80]] as their IBM 5152.<ref>Subhead: "Note that the IBM 5152 is a rebadged Epson MX-80." {{cite web |title=IBM 5152 - Documentation Pointers |url=https://www.minuszerodegrees.net/5152/doco/5152_documentation.htm |access-date=2017-12-12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921184049/http://minuszerodegrees.net/5152/doco/5152_documentation.htm |archive-date=2018-09-21}}</ref>

Another technology, [[inkjet printing]], which uses the [[razor and blades model|razor and blades business model]] (give away the razor handle, make money on the razor blade)<ref>"Printer makers, led by [[Hewlett-Packard]] Co., have long used the razor-and-blade pricing model, in which the hardware is sold for little or no profit." {{cite news |title=Kodak's Strategy For First Printer -- Cheaper Cartridges |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB117073503026399219 |access-date=2018-01-29 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171213010339/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB117073503026399219 |archive-date=2017-12-13}}</ref> has reduced the value of the low cost for the printer: "a price per milliliter on par with liquid gold" for the ink/toner.<ref name="CW.ink">{{cite news |author=Robert L. Mitchell |title=HP explains why printer ink is so expensive |date=May 24, 2010 |newspaper=Computerworld |url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2469251/emerging-technology/hp-explains-why-printer-ink-is-so-expensive.html |access-date=December 12, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171212193146/https://www.computerworld.com/article/2469251/emerging-technology/hp-explains-why-printer-ink-is-so-expensive.html |archive-date=December 12, 2017}}</ref>

===Personal computers===
In June 1978, the [[Epson]] TX-80/TP-80,<ref>{{cite web |last=Enterprise |first=I. D. G. |title=Computerworld |date=28 May 1979 |publisher=IDG Enterprise |via=Google Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BO24urtO-OoC&pg=PT54}}</ref> an 8-pin dot-matrix printer mainly used for the [[Commodore PET]] computer, was released. This and its successor, the 9-pin [[Epson MX-80|MX-80/MP-80]] (introduced in 1979–1980),<ref>{{cite web |title=Epson Corporate Information U.S. History |website=epson.com |url=http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/AboutCorpHistory.jsp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130802071715/http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/AboutCorpHistory.jsp |archive-date=2013-08-02}}</ref> sparked the popularity of impact printers in the personal computer market.<ref>{{cite web |title=MX-80 - Epson |url=http://global.epson.com/company/corporate_history/milestone_products/11_mx80.html |access-date=2017-12-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171218204310/http://global.epson.com/company/corporate_history/milestone_products/11_mx80.html |archive-date=2017-12-18}}</ref> The MX-80 combined affordability with good-quality text output (for its time). Early impact printers (including the MX) were notoriously loud during operation, a result of the hammer-like mechanism in the print head. The MX-80's low dot density (60 dpi horizontal, 72 dpi vertical) produced printouts of a distinctive "computerized" quality. When compared to the crisp typewriter quality of a daisy-wheel printer, the dot-matrix printer's legibility appeared especially bad. In office applications, output quality was a serious issue, as the dot-matrix text's readability would rapidly degrade with each [[photocopier|photocopy]] generation.

====PC software====
Initially, third-party printer enhancement software offered a quick fix to the quality issue. General strategies were:
* doublestrike (print each line twice), and
* double-density mode (slow the print head to allow denser and more precise dot placement).

Some newer dot-matrix impact printers could reproduce [[bitmap]] images via "dot-addressable" capability. In 1981, Epson offered a retrofit [[EPROM]] kit called [[Graftrax]] to add this to many early MX series printers. Banners and signs produced with software that used this ability, such as [[Broderbund]]'s [[The Print Shop|Print Shop]], became ubiquitous in offices and schools throughout the 1980s.

As carriage speed increased and dot density increased (from 60 dpi up to 240 dpi), with some adding color printing, additional typefaces allowed the user to vary the text appearance of printouts. Proportional-spaced fonts allowed the printer to imitate the non-uniform character widths of a typesetter, and also darker printouts. 'User-downloadable fonts' gave until the printer was powered off or soft-reset. The user could embed up to two [[#Near Letter Quality (NLQ)|NLQ]] custom typefaces in addition to the printer's built-in (ROM) typefaces.
[[File:Ink cartridge and inside zoom.jpg|thumb|Upper: [[Inmac]] ink [[ribbon]] cartridge with black ink for a dot matrix printer. Lower: Inked and folded, the ribbon is pushed back into the cartridge by the roller mechanism to the left]]

===Contemporary use===
The desktop impact printer was gradually replaced by the [[inkjet printer]]. When [[Hewlett-Packard]]'s {{cite patent |country=US |number=4578687 |status=patent}} expired on steam-propelled photolithographically produced ink-jet heads in 2004, the inkjet mechanism became available to the printer industry. For applications that did not require impact (e.g. carbon-copy printing), the inkjet was superior in nearly all respects: comparatively quiet operation, faster print speed, and output quality almost as good as a laser printer. By 1995, [[inkjet technology]] had surpassed dot matrix impact technology in the mainstream market and relegated dot matrix to niche applications.<ref name="Dyszel">{{cite journal |last1=Dyszel |first1=William |title=Hammering On |date=7 November 1995 |journal=PC Magazine |location=New York |publisher=Ziff-Davis |volume=14 |issue=19 |pages=285–296 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qxIpLj9BmV8C&pg=PA285 |access-date=27 April 2020}}</ref>

{{As of|2021}}, dot matrix impact technology remains in use in devices and applications such as:{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}
* [[Cash register]]s,
* [[Automatic Teller Machine|ATMs]],
* Banking, passbook and cashier's checks,
* Time cards and parking stubs,
* Multi-layer contracts for signature,
* [[Fire alarm system]]s,
* Point-of-sale terminals,
* British and Irish fire stations for turnout sheets,
* Applications requiring continuous output on fan-fold paper.

[[Thermal printing]] is gradually supplanting them in some of these applications, but full-size dot-matrix impact printers are still used to print [[carbonless copy paper|multi-part stationery]]. For example, dot matrix impact printers are still used at bank tellers and auto repair shops, and other applications where use of [[continuous stationery|tractor feed paper]] is desirable such as [[data logging]] and [[aviation]]. Most of these printers now come with USB interfaces as a standard feature to facilitate connections to modern computers without legacy ports.