Why did old printing paper have holes on the sides?

[GoldenBear]

68o

 

[Gunbuster]

To pull it through the printer, it's called tractor feed

 

[rlism]

to keep the paper aligned when it scrolled =P

 

[Jmman]

The old dot matrix days...

 

[SendTrash]

geez... come on those dot matrix printers aren't THAT old! lol, you are making me feel bad...

 

[Zenmervolt]

Ah, the days of the Dot-Matrix and tractor feed. I remember watching the computer desk shake violently sideways as the print carriage returned after each line and also ripping an important paper in half because the )*&^ perforation around the holes refused to tear. We used to have an ALPS Dot-Matrix that you could hear in the backyard when it was printing.

Zenmervolt

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Those were the days - sigh.

I remember in those days of "letter-quality" printers, people would glue stationery to fan-fold computer paper so they could produce a printed page without the perforation on the edges. I also remember a review of one of the first laser printers that expressed concern that the proportional spacing of a laser-printed page would look too professional, leading the recipient to think he was getting junk mail instead of professional or personal correspendence.

 

[virtuamike]

Me too, this question is making me feel old

 

[khaosspawn]

I know the answer to this ... and now I feel old

 

[urbantechie]

Damn i'm younger than you and I even used it.....sheesh!

 

[urbantechie]

Remeber when they had that banner program so you can make posters and stuff? Heehe..

 

[Harrald]

Now I think I'm going down to the computer lab "My den in the basement" and get my old 9pin dot matrix printer running. I have a case of tractor feed down there too.

It should make for a nice back-up printer on the network. Should be good for printing manuals and stuff that I don't need to use my real printer on.

 

[urbantechie]

<< Ah, the days of the Dot-Matrix and tractor feed. I remember watching the computer desk shake violently sideways as the print carriage returned after each line and also ripping an important paper in half because the )*&amp;^ perforation around the holes refused to tear. We used to have an ALPS Dot-Matrix that you could hear in the backyard when it was printing. >>


LOL So true!! Those suckers were loud too...

 

[Emulex]

how do you think people still print multi-copy carbon receipts? Most auto shops and service stores that give you copies of your printed receipt still use dot matrix printers!!

I remember fixing so many okidata microline 320's.

My first dot matrix printer (bought new) only would print from left to right, it was that old!!

 

[Delusion2001]

it's for the tractor thingy

you don't see them for home use, but for business use you tend to. also for school use sometimes

 

[SSP]

Shows how new you are to computers don't it?


Ahh... the memories. The first one I owned was a Tandy dot matrix printer. I would of still had it, but my sisters friend bought it off of me for 60 bucks. not a bad deal.

 

[JackSlappy]

Actually it was so that THE MAN could watch over everything you printed. Just some cool FYI ^_^