Adam suggested on gnustep-discuss that I do a clean install using gnustep-startup. Still no joy in starting apps. I'm using Ink because it compiles in about 5 seconds, but I've checked and it is not unique to Ink. The errors:
2006-08-29 16:24:14.840 Ink[7980] Exception occured while loading model: unable to contact GDNC server - please check that the gdnc process is running. I attempted to start it at '/usr/GNUstep/System/Tools/gdnc'
2006-08-29 16:24:14.840 Ink[7980] Failed to load Nib 2006-08-29 16:24:14.840 Ink[7980] Cannot load the main model file 'MainMenu'
I can confirm that gdnc is running as is gdomap.
Could someone suggest how to debug this FRUSTRATING problem. Perhaps there is something else I need to delete to do a clean install besides ~/GNUstep/ and /usr/GNUstep ?