Thanks, that was it..

when I had "cut and pasted" it I had left off the "gds_". Really
obvious, but I never saw it after staring at it for days...<sigh>

Thanks again for your reply..

John...

--- In ib-support@yahoogroups.com, John Bellardo <bellardo@c...> wrote:
> Others have had problems with incorrect /etc/inetd.conf (or
> /etc/xinetd.d) entries. You should verify these are correct. A
> typical inetd.conf entry looks like:
>
> gds_db stream tcp nowait root
> /Library/Frameworks/Firebird.framework/Resources/bin/gds_inet_server
> gds_inet_server
>
> -John