xauth:error in locking authority file...Dyne:bolic

[Doug W]

Greetings,

Hopefully someone here can straighten me out. I am not a total newbie to Linux but close enough.

I have been able to get DSL and Puppy Linux going on a couple of computers, both LiveCD and hard drive installs but I still am pretty ignorant when it comes to the innards of Linux.

I burned an ISO of the LiveCD of dyne:bolic. It goes through the normal boot process and then asks me for a login and password. I expected that somewhere along the way, I would be prompted to set up a login and password which would be stored in some file on the hard drive but this was not the case.

I then went through what documentation I could find on the CD or online. I did find one reference online where someone logged in as root with the password luther. That seemed to get me in,

Then I typed "startx" and ended up with this error:

xauth:error in locking authority file /root/.xauthority
xauth:error in locking authority file /root/.xauthority
xauth:error in locking authority file /root/.xauthority

I found some references to this problem online. One solution was to delete the xauthority file and try again. I have no idea how to do this, especially since I am working in a RAM disk.

Is there a universal login/password that Linux users use that everyone but me knows about? I am a fairly experienced DOS user but cannot really get around the command line of Linux at this point.

I would appreciate any help.

Thanks,
Doug W

[Doug W]

After further investigation:

1. The computer I was trying to boot the Dyne:bolic live CD on had an AMD K6 processor (not K62) and 128 Meg of RAM.

2. I then tried the Live CD on a Pentium III with 768 Meg of RAM. It booted it's way into the Desktop without asking for a password.

3. Tried another computer with an AMD K6 processor with 256 Meg of RAM - same problem with prompts for Login and Password.

4. Tried a P4 with 1 gig RAM and it booted it's way into the Desktop without asking for a password.

Guess I won't be using Dyne:bolic on the older machines.

Still - if anyone has a thought about booting into those older computers with Dyne:bolic drop a reply. Those older computers do work with Damn Small Linux and Puppy Linux.

Thanks,
Doug