edward
Make sure that the environment variable HOUDINI_USE_HFS_PYTHON is unset.

where is this variable?

Check your environment.

edward
Check your environment.

sorry that I am a pain but how can I check my enviroment in linux? I used to be in windows where all the env variables are in one place.. Which file holds houdini's default env variables, like the one your said?

p.s. I managed have pyqt work inside houdini but i had to compile pyqt4 inside houdini's distribution of python2.5.

Run in your shell: env | grep houdini