Um... the postscript patent has expired. At least postscript level 1 can
be implemented without encumbrances. Level 2 should be expiring soon.
OK you win :D
But again .... its not the point!
so IF all my printers supported postscript we would be in business EXCEPT
A Postscript printer has to keep, at minimum, 8.5x11x600x600 bytes of RAM,
about 33 megabytes. More if we have more that 8-bit grayscale or want to
do color conversion post-rendering. 33 Megabytes doesn't fit on a nice
cheap System on a Chip. So, instead of having a single chip to control
everything, you need a chip with a RAM interfaces and a stick of RAM
(probably cheaper than the chips).
( Thanks Andrew )
OR for one specific printer FEEL free to correct me if I am wrong on the
math
lets assume were using a standard print size of 17*19 (ignoring itll do
lengths up to some 20 feet)
it prints nicely at 4800*1200 but because IM not sure how it gets to the
4800 lets just use 1200x1200
has 8 colors
assuming it uses 8 bits per pixel per color (Id say thats a safe bet) but
might be a tad high
itll use only 11.5 Mb per square inch
and in that 17x19 it only requires 2.8gb of ram
How much do I have to pay for this printer again!!!!
To be fair: I don't find that a bad tradeoff if the manufacturers would
just document the raster protocol. A printer is almost always going to
have less power and memory than a computer.
now what IF I told you this raster protocol is documented???
then what?
Richard Reynolds
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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