Disclosed is a printing system having a plurality of print heads for printing an image on a print receiving medium, print head actuators operable for individually repositioning the print heads to optimal locations for each print job, and software operable while a current print job is active for determining the optimal print head locations for a next anticipated print job.

Disclosed is a printing system having a plurality of print heads for printing an image on a print receiving medium, print head actuators operable for individually repositioning the print heads to optimal locations for each print job, and software operable while a current print job is active for determining the optimal print head locations for a next anticipated print job.

A fast and economical thermal inkjet printer prints on elongate print media, such as on a strip of paper from a roll, by moving a fluid jet print cartridge a determined dimension longitudinally of the length dimension of the paper strip while printing. In order to print a document that is wider than the width the print cartridge can print in a single scan of the paper, the cartridge is dithered among selected lateral positions within the width of the paper strip, and successively is scanned lengthwise of the paper strip to print in each successive longitudinal printing "swath." A capstan of the printer advances the paper strip in steps of unit dimension along the length of the paper strip, which unit dimension may be substantially equal to the determined dimension of print cartridge movement while printing, so that documents having a length greater than the determined dimension can be printed in successive parts each of a length equal to this unit dimension. The capstan can also selectively advance the paper strip by a dimension that is less than the unit dimension so that documents printed on the printer may have lengths other than multiples of the determined dimension, thus saving on paper use.

A printer module includes a body that defines a print media feed path and a feed opening to permit print media to be positioned in the print media feed path. A pagewidth printing mechanism is positioned in the body to carry out a printing operation on the print media. At least one modular connector is arranged on the body to permit at least an image processing module to be connected to the body. A bus interconnects the printing mechanism and the image processing module to facilitate communication between the printing mechanism and the image processing module.