[comp.text.tex] font formats: what do they mean?

stevens@canada.ctr.columbia.edu (Andy Stevens) (12/28/90)

Can anybody explain to me what are the different font formats for tex
and related programs (latex, xdvi, dvi2ps, gs, etc.).  I seem to have lots
of .tfm and .pk files, but often I get error messages that I am
missing fonts.  Is there one exhaustive place where all the fonts are
kept?  What is the difference between pk300 and pk300w fonts?  What
are gf and mf fonts?  Why are there so many different formats?  Which
format is best (I can't keep them all, too much disk space)?

questioningly yours,

--andy s.