Specifications

Network Printing Problems
■ Can’t print to a networked printer. Make sure you have rights to the printer; you must log on to
the network to be able to use any networked resource. If your printer is a peer resource, you
might need to provide a password. If the printer is on a Linux, Novell NetWare, Unix, or
Windows NT/2000 network, contact the network administrator to have the printer added to
your list of permissions.
Make sure the printer is designed to be networked. If nobody but the user connected directly to
the printer can use it, but the network settings are correct, the printer might not be suitable for
network use. Check this feature before you buy (see the checklists found earlier in this chapter).
You must map an LPT or COM port to the print queue to print from an MS-DOS printer; you
can use the UNC (Universal Naming Convention) print queue name to print from a Windows
application.
■ Simple jobs print, but complex jobs don’t. Adjust the timings in the printer properties sheet for the
network printer.
■ Printer prints gibberish for some users. The wrong printer driver might be used by some network
users; install the correct driver.
Scanners
Scanners provide you with a way to convert documents and photographs of many types into com-
puter-readable form. Similar to the scanning element on a copier, a scanner works by transferring
digital signals representing the document to the computer for processing.
Regardless of the final use for the scanned document, all scans are received by the computer as digital
images.
Scanners differ in how the signals are created, how the scanner is interfaced with the computer, and
which types of documents can be scanned. After the document is scanned, a scanning utility program
provided with the scanner sends the scan to application software. This software determines whether
the scan will be saved as an image or converted into computer-readable text. If page-recognition soft-
ware, such as OmniPage, is used, both text and graphics on a page can be recognized and converted
into digital form during the same operation.
Recent price drops and technology improvements on scanners have transformed scanners from exotic
devices restricted to graphic artists and media-conversion specialists into one of the most popular
add-ons for home and office use alike.
This section helps you choose the best scanner for your needs and shows you how to ensure it works
reliably for you.
The Hand Scanner
The oldest type of scanner is the hand scanner, developed in the late 1980s by input-device compa-
nies such as Logitech and Genius. Hand scanners work by reflecting a narrow beam of light from an
LED onto the document to be scanned. The user moves the scanner slowly down the document to be
scanned, transmitting data to a lens and CCD (charge-coupled device), which converts the data into
digital form. The document is converted into lines of data by the scanner, and the software in the
computer reassembles it into a digital image. Depending on the scanner, the data might be captured
as black, white, or shades of gray—or if it’s one of a few late-model scanners, color up to 24-bit level
(16.8 million colors).