Well, results are not what I hoped. My .gtkrc-1.2-gnome2 file tells me not to edit,
# Autowritten by gnome-settings-daemon. Do not edit
include "/usr/share/themes/Bluecurve/gtk/gtkrc"
include "/home/jimc/.gtkrc.mine"
so instead I created the .gtkrc.mine file
gtk-color-palette = "blue:white:white:white:white:white:white:white:blue:white:white:white:white:white:white:white"
and included the color line there. Restarted X and no go--Dia's palette is still the same.
Thanks for ideas #1-8...did I miss something or is there more to it?
And I have 77 files in /etc/gconf/schemas but none called dia. Which one might control this?
Thanks for all the help.
Jim Clark