QT3 Designer Pgadmin III and PgAccess Cannot connect to PostgreSQL 7.4 database

I am using PostgreSQL 7.4 on a Linux machine, I have built a small DB
and PqAdmin III and PgAccess both fail when I try to connect, the same
error happens when trying to connect with QT3 I get the error "missing
or erroneous pg-hba.conf file"

I am trying to connect to the localhost using the user that created the
database.

If I use the default values I cannot connect because of Ident error.

How do I configure for access by anyone on the system it is a test
system not for production.

Thanks for any help

Philip