Thus spaketh higuita:
a font might be installed in the new system, but not installed in the old X font system... this is your problem...
I might agree, except I installed every font package on the KDE system onto the XFCE system. Xlsfonts and xfontsel shows the same output on both machines (see below). No, I think it's a matter of which GTK engine KDE is running. Strangely, XFCE 4 is GTK 2-based... The answer is probably in an obscure GTK config file somewhere.
I don't think you mean xfontsel because that just lets me see what fonts look like, it doesn't show which my X server is using.
nope, if a font show there, its installed and will show with any problem as any aplication
You might be right; the manpage *does* say xfonsel "displays the fonts known to your X server" but I haven't figured out how... I've only figured out how to show the number of matches (3022) and select an individual font and view it. xlsfonts showed me all of the fonts known to my X server but the output is identical on both systems.
so try it, check the bitstream vera fonts, they are good fonts and should exist in all distros today se if they look the same in xfontsel in both systems...
Vera isn't an option under "fmly" on either system; it isn't even greyed out so that I could choose it if it were enabled. When I choose the bistream "fndry" and go to "fmly" I only see charter, courier, terminal.
I compared font packages on both machines and ensured both had the same packages installed. Some were missing, so I installed them, updated the font cache, restarted X. No joy.
restart the xfs also
Oh yeah forgot to mention I did that too.
xlsfonts shows exactly the same fonts on both machines.
try to compare the output of some fonts in xfontsel in both systems
Actually, fonts in xfontsel on the KDE system all look crummy too... they look identical on both systems. Both systems now have exactly the same fonts. Xfontsel says "3022 names match" when I open it on both systems. Xlsfonts also matches (I did a diff on the output). I've installed the same font .deb packages. I just don't understand it.
X on both machines are now using strictly xfs for fonts.
also try in both systems with a new temporary user and see if you get the same results...
Worth a shot.
try to use the same desktop manager/window manager for both also
Sorry, I'm not installing a heavy window manager for a lightweight browser; there *has* to be some way to make it nice like I see in the screenshots without installing KDE.
also, try xset fp default xset fp rehash and test it again... if the "good" machine start outputting bad fonts also, its KDE that its adding a font path that isnt in the default
Same... did I also have to restart X + XFS?
KDE installs some fonts also in $HOME/.kde/share/fonts or something like this, check if you dont have some extra fonts in there in the good machine
Negative, I did a case-insensitive search under .kde for a folder called "*font*" and came up empty.
finally, are you using the same debian "version" on both machines? not woody and sid, right 8)
Same. Also, same screen resolution and color depth. About the only difference between the two machines is KDE and XFCE. I refuse to use such bloatware on my fast work computer. It's the same reason I want Dillo to work well :)
I think I'll just give up using Dillo for now... it hurts the eyes too much.
also try in a debian mailling list
Well, it's just taking up alot of time; I'll just give up for now. Thanks for the effort. Let me know if I have to restart X + XFS after running xset on the KDE machine. CD "You will exist forever. You and God are both in the universe to stay either as friends on his terms, or enemies on yours. Which it will be is proven in this life. And this life is a vapor. Two seconds, and we will be gone. Surely God means for our time on earth to count for something significant." -- John Piper in "Life as a Vapor." Read it here: http://www.desiringgod.org/library/onlinebooks_index.html#blv