The internet archive of printing knowledge.
The internet archive of printing technology.
PrinterArchive.net is an educational reference on printing, fax, scanning, mobile printing, document workflows, and the history of printing technology.
Then
Mechanical & impact printing
Hammers, ribbons, and continuous-feed paper — the loud origins of the office printer.
Now
Laser & the desk-printed page
Quiet electrophotographic devices brought typeset-quality output from institutional rooms to ordinary office desks.
A short history
Five eras of putting marks on a page
Featured archival stories
Hand-picked stories from the archive
Specific narratives from the printing-as-infrastructure record — impact-to-laser, desktop publishing, the queue and the spooler, fax in deal-making.
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- From the hammer to the pageThe Transition from Impact to Laser PrintingWhy offices moved from striking paper to forming pages with light and toner, and what that shift gained and gave up.
- The page on the deskThe History of Desktop PublishingHow the production of a finished page collapsed from a multi-trade workflow into a single desk — and what that displaced.
- The first shared-printer networksEarly Network Printing SystemsWhen a printer stopped belonging to one desk, a queue appeared — and with it an office etiquette, an informal authority, and norms that outlived the hardware.
- Before the wireless officeOffice Printing Before Wi-FiBefore wireless, printing was a located, wired activity: cables fixed devices in place, and the office's topology decided who could print what.
- From line-based output to page printingEarly Computer PrintingHow early computers produced printed output, from line printers to the move toward page-oriented printing.
- The fax era of businessThe History of Business FaxingHow the ability to move a signed page across distance in minutes reshaped commercial tempo, then quietly became ordinary office infrastructure.
History
Printing History
- The managed-document enterpriseEnterprise Document ManagementHow organisations moved from filing cabinets to managing documents as governed records: captured, indexed, retrieved, retained, and disposed of by rule.
- Decoupling the request from the printSpoolers and Print QueuesSpooling solved an economic problem before a technical one: how to keep a slow, expensive printer fully used while never making a fast computer or its user wait.
- The managed print fleetPrint Servers in Large OfficesAt scale, the print server stopped being a way to share a device and became an instrument of governance — metering, quotas, defaults, and fleet control.
Fax
Fax Technology
- The persistent exceptionWhy Fax Is Still UsedWhy a technology widely declared obsolete is still in active use, and what the persistence reveals about trust, evidence, and the cost of switching.
- The long declineThe Decline of Office Fax MachinesWhy the office fax machine faded over a long span instead of being switched off, and what the slowness of that decline reveals about institutional change.
- Before the inboxFax Machines Before EmailWhat the working day looked like when the fastest way to put a document in someone's hands was a machine in the corner of the office.
Brands
Printer Brands
- Konica MinoltaKonica MinoltaEncyclopedic reference on Konica Minolta: the 2003 merger of Konica and Minolta, its copier heritage, and the bizhub and Accurio printing lines.
- IBMIBM: A History of Its Computer PrintersEncyclopedic history of IBM's computer printers: the 1403 line printer, 3800 laser system, Proprinter, AFP/IPDS, and the Lexmark and Ricoh spin-offs.
- LexmarkLexmarkLexmark International: the 1991 IBM spin-off that became a laser printing, imaging, and managed print services company, later acquired by Xerox.
A pathway through the archive
How the office organised its printing
Before printing reached every desk it was a shared, centralised, and governed thing. Follow how organisations concentrated, scaled, and managed the act of putting documents on paper.
Continue browsing
The whole archive in nine sections
- 01Printing HistoryHow printing, fax, and document technology developed over time.24 entries
- 02Technology GuidesClear explanations of how printing and scanning technologies work.64 entries
- 03TroubleshootingStructured, methodical fixes for common printing problems.9 entries
- 04Printer BrandsReference overviews of major printer and imaging manufacturers.10 entries
- 05Document WorkflowsRepeatable processes for scanning, printing, and document handling.10 entries
- 06Tools & FormatsReference explanations of printing-related tools, formats, and standards.32 entries
- 07Printing GlossaryDefinitions of printing, scanning, and document terminology.11 entries
- 08Mobile PrintingPrinting from phones and tablets, including AirPrint and related standards.2 entries
- 09Fax TechnologyHow fax technology works and how it evolved.6 entries
About the archive
A calm, factual record of printing technology
PrinterArchive is an educational reference, not a marketplace. No reviews, no affiliate links — only structured, source-ready explanations of how printing, fax, and document technology works and how it evolved.