[ILUG] flustered with fonts

[greg wm]

i think i need a "default font lesson" or something.

i've usually run thunderbird directly in X (centos 4 or fc5).
but when i run it inside Xvnc, it gets a different font, and nothing
fits in the columns anymore.

i've usually run gnucash in Xvnc on centos4.  now i've launched
it (still) on my centos 4 box but displaying in an fc5 Xvnc, and here
again it's getting an all new font and nothing fits in the column
widths anymore.

i suspect from things i've read that there may be several different
generations of font lore that might be coming into play, with each being
documented (or not) in an entirely different place?

there's hopefully a very simple solution like add font specs to some
commandlines or something.  can anyone enlighten me enough so i can know
where to look?

specifically, how may i know
what fonts thunderbird uses when displaying in X,
what fonts thunderbird uses when displaying in Xvnc, and
where i may specify them so they become the same?

and similarly,
what fonts gnucash uses when displaying in centos4 Xvnc,
what fonts gnucash uses when displaying in fc5 Xvnc, and
where i might redefine them so they become the same?

i do not run gnome, kde, or vncserver.  i use twm.  i'll run xrdb if 
needed and if commandline args won't do.

tia,
greg wm