Ok, I see the problem, but I'm not sure how to resolve it yet. If I issue the command 'xscreensaver-command -lock' from Konsole as user it will not start and lock. But if I start 'xscreensaver' first (thus enabling the xscreensaver daemon) and then issue the command the lock works fine. So I think KDE 3.3 must be running something on top of xscreensaver that starts the daemon and shuts it down when you log in/end it. So either I need to figure out what that command is to get the kde utility to run, or I need to figure out a way to get the xscreensaver daemon to run on kde startup.
Edit: I found this manpage, I'll give it a try.
"USING KDE (K DESKTOP ENVIRONMENT)
I understand that KDE has invented their own wrapper around xscreensaver, that is inferior to xscreensaver-demo(1) in any number of ways. I've never actually seen it, but I'm told that this is the way you disable it:
1: Switch off KDE's screen saver.
Open the ``Control Center'' and select the ``Look and Feel / Screensaver'' page. Turn off the ``Enable Screensaver'' checkbox.
2: Find your Autostart directory.
Open the ``Look and Feel / Desktop / Paths'' page, and see what your ``Autostart'' directory is set to: it will probably be ~/.kde3/Autostart/ or something similar.
3: Add xscreensaver to your startup programs.
Create a file in your autostart directory called launch-xscreensaver. Make that file be executable, and contain a single line: ``xscreensaver''.
Now use xscreensaver normally, controlling it via the usual xscreensaver-demo(1) and xscreensaver-command(1) mechanisms.
http://olympus.het.brown.edu/cgi-bin...xscreensaver+1
Edit: 2 - Ok I got it working by using the above. The main diference in SuSE is that Autostart is in directory ~/.kde and not in ~/.kde3
Thanks for your help Keith, you definatley got me going in the right direction.