Digital BW, The Print

I have just started printing B&W photos using either the Epson ABW
driver on my R2400 or simply converting RGB files to B&W using various
techniques, soft proofing in CS2 and using the canned ICC profiles
from the paper manufactures.  Now I would like to take the next step
and begin using a RIP software program.  My question is which one to
use?  I have downloaded the QTR and it does not provide much help in
terms of documentation (at least for me) so I have never used it.  I
have also seen the IJC/OPM website in which they seem to have a very
good beginners tutorial that was quite helpful but it is also a little
pricy.  I have also seen PFP 2.0 discussed on the forum.  Any
suggestions and/or help would be appreciated.

Thanks,