For future BBOARD searches on using CVS:
If you use the tutorial at:
https://openacs.org/new-file-storage/download/cvs.html?version_id=140
To accomplish the login:
# cvs login -d:pserver:anonymous@openacs.org/cvsroot
I had to use:
# cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@openacs.org:/cvsroot login
Hope this saves you at least two minutes. :^)