bizzare diffs when launching from termanal and desktop/panel

[Dan Gray <dan dangray org>]

 I keep getting problems that I can't explain when launching apps from
shortcuts/panel as opposed to launching from a terminal, a couple of
examples....

1. gimp doesn't recognise xinput devices (my tablet) when launched from
the panel, does when launched from a terminal or with 'launch from
termanal' checked

2. xsane finds no devices when launched from panel/desktop, behaves
properly when launched from terminal.

 Can anyone shed any light on why this happens?

  Dan.