What is line printer

Line printers, or line-a-time printers, use specialized equipment that can print an entire line at once; Typically, they can print in the range of 1,200 to 6,000 lines per minute. Character-a-time printers are very slow in such business where its usefulness increases.

In a typical design, a certain font character set is engraved on the circumference of several print wheels, a number matching the number of columns (letters in a row). The wheels spin at high speed and the paper and an inked ribbon are moved forward from the print position.