I'm using the Etch version of Debian.

I have both Gnome and KDE desktops installed and often run Gnome apps under KDE.

For some reason, apps such as Firefox, Synaptic and gFTP stopped displaying anti-aliased fonts under KDE but still worked fine under Gnome - this was probably due to a recent update.

I went into KDE control centre and made sure that I had 'anti-alias' enabled under the 'fonts' sections - I had.

I spent a couple a of hours looking on the web for a solution but couldn't find one, so as a last resort I unchecked the anti-alias option and 'applied' it. Then I re-checked it and 'applied' it. I then restarted the apps that were given me problems and to my surprise it fixed it!

Obviously, some update had reset the KDE 'anti-alias' config flag somewhere in the system but not the option in KDE Control Centre.

So if this happens to you, try unchecking/applying/re-checking/applying the 'anti-alias' option in KDE Control Centre before spending any time searching the web.

I saw the same thing in the latest KDE 3.5.4 update in Fedora 5 but it was for all apps when in KDE, not just those written for KDE. Reapplying anti-aliasing in Control Center fixed the problem.

I am experiencing similar problems to what has been described in this thread. I have tried the suggested methods of fixing this but they have not worked for me. I am running Fedora Core 5 64 with all available updates installed. The problem with fonts not being anti-aliased extends across both Gnome and KDE. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions and am happy to provide further diagnostics. Thank you in advance.

I wish I could help you, but it's a struggle to solve my own problems with Debian...I'm one or two levels above linux 'newbie' and certainly no expert.

If this is the first Linux distro you've tried, then I would suggest trying a few of the others. I started with Redhat 7, then Redhat 9, then Fedora 1,2 and 3 before switching to Debian - I've found it a lot easier to work with than Redhat/Fedora.

If switching to another distro sounds a bit extreme, then your only option is to do a lot of 'googling'.

First place to start would be a forum that deals specifically with your distro.

I'm curious though - have you ever had anti-alias fonts working or have you just installed a new distro?

My guess is that it's a configuration with the font server - are you using Xfree86/x-org? Might be another good starting point...

How about these links -

The Linux Documentation Project

Linux Fonts Howto

Sorry I can't be more help.

Yes, anti-aliasing was working great. Then I rebooted and all of a sudden my fonts look horrible. I assume that an update came down and when I rebooted, I activated the problem code.

I am using the default install from Fedora Core 5 so whatever that uses, that should be what I am using. The only thing I am using beyond the core Fedora installer is the nvidia drivers from livonia (???).

I have skimmed those links during my Googling efforts. I will dig into them deeper soon.

I appreciate your time and efforts!