OK, I was very concerned after realising that although the command line ipkg installer always worked, anything it installed to SD was inaccessible from QTopia--no icon/link, and not on the list of available icons/programs for adding a link.
The GUI installer crashed immediately and consistently upon selecting any ipk stored on my SD card (ext2 format). However, it has (thus far) worked without fail installing ipk\'s from a CF card with vfat format, and properly registered thier links and icons in QTopia.
Anyone with similar/differing experiences? Hope this helps with what I know has been, for many, a fatal flaw in an otherwise great ROM.