psql ... does not like my user ... help please ;-)

Hello I am playing with a fresh install of mandrake 8.2 and have decided
to use the postgresql db as my database for a simple phonebook application.

I am following the steps from a tutorial but can't seem to be able to
access my data base as the user i created ... I keep getting the msg:

psql: FATAL 1: IDENT authentication failed for user "jim"

I am going to keep reading ... but i will hopefully get an answer to
this post quicker [;-)]

Thanks for any help in advance,
Jim

ps my actual attempt is listed below ...
bash-2.05$ createuser jim -P
Enter password for user "jim":
Enter it again:
Shall the new user be allowed to create databases? (y/n) y
Shall the new user be allowed to create more new users? (y/n) y
CREATE USER

bash-2.05$ createdb gombaPhoneBookDB
CREATE DATABASE

bash-2.05$ psql phoneBookDB -U jim
psql: FATAL 1: IDENT authentication failed for user "jim"

bash-2.05$ psql phoneBookDB -u
psql: Warning: The -u option is deprecated. Use -U.
User name: jim
Password:
psql: FATAL 1: IDENT authentication failed for user "jim"