21. A printing system comprising: (a) a processing unit having an input for receiving data and commands specifying operations to be performed, the processing unit sequentially issuing commands specifying that an individual character from a specified font is to be retrieved from storage where the character is stored as a matrix of pixels in a series of addressed words with each word having a plurality of pixels, processing each retrieved word of each character to position each word with respect to a word storage location where each individual character is to be stored within a memory for storing a page of information to be printed and specifying an address where a first word of each character will be stored in the memory for storing a page of information; (b) a font storage means, coupled to the processing unit, including a font storage memory for storing at least one font of characters each comprised of a plurality of characters to be retrieved and for processing a command issued from the processing unit that a specified character from a specified font is to be retrieved to cause the words of the specified character to be sequentially fetched from storage in the font storage memory by addresses generated by the font storage means and transmitted to the processing unit; (c) a raster storage means, coupled to the processing unit, including a page memory for storing the processed words defining each character sent from the processing unit to create pages of information to be printed, the raster storage means having means for generating the addresses of word locations within the page memory where each of the words of a character are to be stored and causing the storage of the words of each character in a page at the generated addresses, the means for generating the addresses specifying that the first word of each character is stored at the address specified by the processing unit and that all subsequent words of each character are stored within the page memory at addresses generated by the means for generating addresses independently of the operation of the processing unit; and (d) a printing means, coupled to the raster storage means, for sequentially printing pages of information stored in the page memory on a printing medium.
21. A printing system comprising: (a) a processing unit having an input for receiving data and commands specifying operations to be performed, the processing unit sequentially issuing commands specifying that an individual character from a specified font is to be retrieved from storage where the character is stored as a matrix of pixels in a series of addressed words with each word having a plurality of pixels, processing each retrieved word of each character to position each word with respect to a word storage location where each individual character is to be stored within a memory for storing a page of information to be printed and specifying an address where a first word of each character will be stored in the memory for storing a page of information; (b) a font storage means, coupled to the processing unit, including a font storage memory for storing at least one font of characters each comprised of a plurality of characters to be retrieved and for processing a command issued from the processing unit that a specified character from a specified font is to be retrieved to cause the words of the specified character to be sequentially fetched from storage in the font storage memory by addresses generated by the font storage means and transmitted to the processing unit; (c) a raster storage means, coupled to the processing unit, including a page memory for storing the processed words defining each character sent from the processing unit to create pages of information to be printed, the raster storage means having means for generating the addresses of word locations within the page memory where each of the words of a character are to be stored and causing the storage of the words of each character in a page at the generated addresses, the means for generating the addresses specifying that the first word of each character is stored at the address specified by the processing unit and that all subsequent words of each character are stored within the page memory at addresses generated by the means for generating addresses independently of the operation of the processing unit; and (d) a printing means, coupled to the raster storage means, for sequentially printing pages of information stored in the page memory on a printing medium. 22. A printing system in accordance with claim 21, wherein the processing unit includes means for specifying a position in the page memory with respect to a word boundary where the first pixel of words of each character are to be stored.