Hi,
First off, thanks for your valued input.
I first tried the old version with the old libraries, no joy - then I tried the old version with the new libraries, no joy - then the newly compiled version suggested by GNUser (much appreciated) with the new libraries - still no success.
Then I thought I'd try Rich's suggestion of just going back to picore v7 (simple is better as they say), I had to wipe the SD I'd been working on (it's my only spare atm) - for some reason the Pi wouldn't boot using that image (I tried re-writing with different image writing tools in case the standard's changed) - no joy again so I've given up on that.
I'm back to the latest version, booting from external USB and with Samba working again (though this time I knew what I was doing so it's all neat and tidy). Apologies for the delay in replying, I'm disabled so I have to do everything one-handed these days and it takes time.
I found an alternative called rygel in the repository, is that any good?