How The Rip Station 5000 Operates - Epson Stylus Pro 5000 Service Manual

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Introduction

How the RIP Station 5000 operates

The RIP Station 5000 enables the customer to access a printer through the network and
use it to print PostScript and Encapsulated PostScript files using advanced spooling and
job control functions. Users can print to the RIP Station 5000 from networked Mac OS
®
computers, IBM PC or compatible computers running Microsoft Windows ™ , and
UNIX workstations running TCP/IP. In addition, the RIP Station 5000 parallel port can
be used to print directly from a PC-compatible.
The RIP Station 5000 custom-designed boards and operating software are responsible
for efficient image processing and printing controls. The main functions of
RIP Station 5000 components and software are described below.
The RIP Station 5000 uses a specialized motherboard to process image data for printing
images. The R4700 motherboard includes a MIPS R4700 RISC (Reduced Instruction
Set Computer) CPU with a built-in floating point accelerator that runs the Interpreter,
which interprets the page description file. The DX RipChip ™ on the motherboard
controls data management and other system functions, freeing up the CPU for efficient
image data processing.
One or more high-speed DIMMs (dual in-line memory modules) on the motherboard
hold the image data during printing. The RIP Station 5000 is originally configured for a
minimum of 32MB of memory (one DIMM).
The Interpreter outputs raster data through the image frame buffer memory to the
printer using the printer interface cable. The raster data is supplied to the printer at full
printer rates in order to render the final image on paper.
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