The short answer to your question is yes, provided you have the correct printer drivers and cables. You would be best to contact the thermal printer manufacturer or their website to see if drivers are available for your specific computer configuration.
I've had a few of these for our EPOS machine, as well as the drivers your software will need to specify the width of the roll and character set to use.
If you try and print straight from word it is quite likely that you'll just get a load of garbage printed that looks like a Hex dump.
If you go onto the site for the printer you might get the right software to specify how it should print, but in general it usually comes built into the EPOS software you're using.
A few I've had I've just given up on, you can spend hours (days) getting it to work, then suddenly you'll do the same thing you've done 100 times before and it'll be fine, until you try to do it again...
A lot use RS232 connections (a few still use parallel ports) however the newer ones are USB. Be aware of how the port is set in your BIOS if using anything other than USB, it does make a difference with these.