Printer

A printer comprising:

• a print head configured to print along a raster direction portions of an image on a printing medium in units of a raster;
• a stepping motor configured to move at least one of the printing medium and the print head so as to change a relative position between the printing medium and the print head in a direction intersecting the raster direction;
• and
• a motor driver configured to drive the stepping motor;
• a control unit configured to control the print head in response to a print start instruction, the control unit including a drive pulse generator configured to generate and output drive pulses to the motor driver, which drives the stepping motor based on the driver pulses, wherein
• the print head is controlled to perform printing of one raster along the raster direction each time the relative position between the printing medium and the print head is changed by the stepping motor by an interval of the raster, and
• the driver pulse generator is configured generate and output at least one damping drive pulse to the motor driver before a rotation speed of the stepping motor increases to a predetermined target speed.

A method of printing portions of an image on a printing medium along a raster direction in units of a raster, comprising:

• driving a stepping motor to move at least one of the printing medium and a print head so as to change a relative position between the printing medium and the print head in a direction intersecting the raster direction;
• and
• printing one raster along the raster direction each time the relative position between the printing medium and the print head is changed by the the stepping motor by an interval of the raster, wherein
• before a rotation speed of the stepping motor increases to a predetermined target speed, the stepping motor is driven according to a plurality of drive pulses, an interval of consecutive two drive pulses being longer than an immediately preceding interval.