Marcelo Chiapparini <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > after running xdvi I noted that several *pk files appeared in > /var/spool/texmf/pk/ljfour/public/cm. Why this?
The Computer Modern fonts (the default latex fonts) are in Metafont, a scalable font language developed by Knuth to go with TeX. In order to display those characters, xdvi and dvips run metafont to create pk fonts, which are bitmaps at a certain resolution and associated with a certain device. Since this can take some time, those bitmaps are cached in /var/spool/texmf/pk, so the next time you view a document using the same fonts, the bitmaps don't have to be generated. (This is a bit of a simplification, but it's good enough for most work.) -- Alan Shutko <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - In a variety of flavors! Pure drivel tends to drive ordinary drivel off the TV screen.
