I am going to install Debian on a friend's machine, once Sarge is released.
Reason: He wants a stable Internet machine (Web & Email, essentially) & I want to leave him with a secure system that I don't have to maintain (save for getting him to do the occasional upgrade of security patches)

To that end I will be installing the base Debian packages, x-window-system, gnome and mozilla, probably adding Java plugins and flash, OpenOffice etc and not much else.

However, to make the system as easy as posssible, I want the system to boot up, start X and automatically log him into GNOME as a standard user, requiring him to only memorise the admin password for Synaptic.

Using Mandrake, in their Control Center is an option to automatically log a user in on boot.

Is it possible to do the same in Debian? If so has it been documented anywhere that I might read up on it?

use gdm as graphical login. autologin can be done with gdmconfig (graphicaly) or edit /etc/gdm/gdm.conf by hand.

sl mritch.

Excellent, thanks for the advice.