PostScript is such an ubiquitous part of the graphic-arts industry that there's a tendency to forget it's not the native language of most output devices. In addition to using a RIP for interpreting PostScript input, printers may also be driven by a proprietary printer control language. In this case, the data streaming to the printer directly instructs the marking engine what type of marks to make and where, and also controls that printer's available options, such as which paper drawer to select and where to bind the sheets with the printer's built-in stapler.

Perhaps the most common example of a printer language, Hewlett-Packard (HP) Printer Control Language (HP PCL, often referred to as simply PCL) drives laser printers from HP (Palo Alto, CA), Canon (Lake Success, NY) and others without the need for a PostScript RIP.

IBM (Boulder, CO) was the source for Advanced Function Presentation (AFP), a device-independent print architecture that converts to a device-specific Intelligent Print Data Stream (IPDS) to drive the output device.

Source: “American Printer” August 2008 http://americanprinter.com/
Excerpt from Article by Hal Hinderliter

RISO offers PostScript capability for its line of Digital Duplicators and Full-Color Inkjet Printers.