Plot Failure

[Thomas D. Dean]

I have gnuplot Version 4.4 patchlevel 3, installed with apt-get
and octave version 3.4.3, built local, without error.
on ubuntu 11.10

# cat .gnuplot
set terminal 'xterm'

# cat .octaverc
putenv("GDFONTPATH","/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-dejavu");
putenv("GNUPLOT_DEFAULT_GDFONT","DejaVuSans.ttf");
PRINTER='PhotoSmart_C4100';
orient("landscape");

The font directory and the font exist.
# ls /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf

# octave
GNU Octave, version 3.4.3
...
octave:1> t=[0:.1:2*pi];
octave:2> plot(t,sin(t)

Nothing. - no plot window

octave:3> x=plot(t,sin(t))
x = -15.880

ps ax shows
12198  2857 S+   00:00:00 /usr/local/bin/octave
12199 12198 S+   00:00:00 gnuplot

so it looks like octave started gnuplot, but, ???

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Tom Dean