[Openicc] printing GUI vs. printerdriver, LINUX colorinfrastructure

[Graeme Gill]

Robert L Krawitz wrote:
> I fundamentally don't like using the term "RIP" to encompass the
> entire process of converting PDL (or API) to the low level printer
> language.  I'm aware that there are RIP's sold in the Window market
> that provide the entire soup to nuts conversion, but usually (at least

It's not the just the Windows market. Many RIP users are Mac users,
so most useful RIPs attach to all three main OS's.

> in the UNIX/Linux world) there's a generic component that translates a
> PDL (Postscript, say) to a generic raster format and a
> printer-specific component that translates that generic raster format
> to printer-specific format.  As the project lead for Gutenprint, I
> have a particular interest in the latter and a passing interest in the
> former insofar as it affects how I do the latter.

"RIP" is a term used in two main ways. It's technical one is
the component that renders a page description format into pixels.

It has also come to more loosely mean a box or piece of software that
has a RIP component as it's primary function.

Graeme Gill.