1. Report Printing Administration Technologies Guide
  2. Line Printing

Line Printing

When you send a job to a line printer, consider the following:

  • All dot matrix printers are line printers.

  • To define custom paper size, you need to know CPI, CPP, LPI, LPP.

    The formula for defining paper size is: 

    CPI * custom inches wide = CPP, LPI * custom inches = LPP tall.

  • Calculation of CPP and LPP depends on the paper size that you are using for your line printer.

    Some common paper sizes that are available for line printers are 8.5 x11 inches; 13.2 x 11 inches, 13.2 x 7.5 inches, and 13.2 x 8.5 inches.

    • For example, CPP and LPP calculations for paper size 13.2 x 7.5 inches at 10 CPI and 6 LPI would be 13.2 inches * 10 CPI = 132 CPP and 7.5 inches * 6 LPI = 45 LPP. (Think of this as 13.2 inches per page width * 10 characters per inch = 132 characters per page width.)

    • Similarly, for 11 inches wide by 8.5 inches tall, at 12 CPI and 8 LPI, the calculations would be: 11 inches wide * 12 CPI = 132 CPP; 8.5 inches tall * 8 LPI = 68 LPP.

  • Line printers cannot show colors, bold, italic, or underlines or boxes for column header identification.