Дальтонизмъ

.Xresources ?

В ~/.Xresources прописать:

XTerm*termName: xterm
XTerm*color0:  black
XTerm*color1:  red
XTerm*color2:  green
XTerm*color3:  yellow
XTerm*color4:  blue
XTerm*color5:  magenta
XTerm*color6:  cyan
XTerm*color7:  white
XTerm*color8:  black
XTerm*color9:  red
XTerm*color10: green
XTerm*color11: yellow
XTerm*color12: blue
XTerm*color13: magenta
XTerm*color14: cyan
XTerm*color15: white

Явное указание названия терминала тоже от какой-то баги лечит в
каких-то версиях. Только вот не помню уже от какой и в каких :)

Что ж так сурово-то?

XTerm*background:               Black                                                                
XTerm*foreground:               LightYellow3      
XTerm*boldMode:                 false                                                                
XTerm*colorBDMode:              true                                                                 
XTerm*colorULMode:              true                                                                 
XTerm*colorBD:                  LightGoldenrod1                                                      
XTerm*colorUL:                  SkyBlue                                                              
XTerm*cursorColor:              DarkSeaGreen2                                                        
XTerm*pointerColor:             DarkSeaGreen2                                                        
XTerm*pointerColorBackground:   Gray20                                                               
Xterm*color0: #000000                                                                                
XTerm*color1: #AA0000                                                                                
XTerm*color2: #00AA00                                                                                
XTerm*color3: #AAAA00                                                                                
XTerm*color4: #0000AA                                                                                
XTerm*color5: #AA00AA                                                                                
XTerm*color6: #00AAAA                                                                                
XTerm*color7: Gray75                                                                                 
                                                                       XTerm*color8: gray30                                                                                 
XTerm*color9: IndianRed1                                                                             
XTerm*color10: PaleGreen2                                                                            
XTerm*color11: LightGoldenrod2                                                                       
XTerm*color12: DodgerBlue                                                                            
XTerm*color13: violet                                                                                
XTerm*color14: SkyBlue
XTerm*color15: white 

   

а `export TERM=xterm-color` не пробовал?

if [ "$PS1" ]; then

    # don't put duplicate lines in the history. See bash(1) for more options
    # export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups

    # enable color support of ls and also add handy aliases
    eval `dircolors -b`
    alias ls='ls --color=auto'
    alias dir='ls --color=auto --format=vertical'
    alias vdir='ls --color=auto --format=long'

    # some more ls aliases
    alias ll='ls -l'
    alias la='ls -A'
    alias l='ls -CF'

    # set a fancy prompt
    PS1='\u@\h:\w\$ '

    # If this is an xterm set the title to user@host:dir
    case $TERM in
    xterm*)
        PROMPT_COMMAND='echo -ne "\033]0;${USER}@${HOSTNAME}: ${PWD}\007"'
        ;;
    *)
        ;;
    esac

    # enable programmable completion features (you don't need to enable
    # this, if it's already enabled in /etc/bash.bashrc).
    if [ -f /etc/bash_completion ]; then
      . /etc/bash_completion
    fi
fi

про это, что ли?