ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Stepper motors - how to make them operate

I took some of my old printers and a scanner apart to expand my hardware inventory. I found several stepper motors.

There are things I want to rotate, and even partially rotate. If I hook up one of these stepper motors to power, will it just spin? Do these stepper motors require a computer to tell them to work? If they turn a partial rotation and stop, how is that accomplished?

Roger