UPDATE: also, before you try this, make sure you have some good fonts installed, after a fresh install of Lenny at work, I needed to run this first: apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer msttcorefonts
After a…slight slip up, I finally had the chance to install Linux from scratch on my laptop (Dell Vostro 1500) the way I’ve always wanted it with Debian GNU/Linux - Lenny and partitioned with LVM (Linux Volume Management). After that I set out to get the desktop fonts to look as good in Debian as they did (by default) in Ubuntu. After much scouring around online I found a pretty easy tweak that got me most of the way. As root:
dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig-config
In the dialog choose these options; Autohinter, Automatic and No. Now issue this command:
dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig
Logout and log back into your desktop and your fonts should be noticeably nicer looking. Of course after that you have to drive yourself crazy tweaking the settings for autohinting and RGB lines, installing any and all ttf-* fonts apt-get sees, but hey, that’s what choice is all about! ;)