Heya guys, always kinda wondered this. I Have a Really old box, but still runs well. Its some old IBM server grade workstation or something, Had Dual P3 processors and SCSI drives (the works, like 12 years ago :P) And plan to load up Debian Etch on it. (use to run debian a long time ago, my favorite distro outta all ive tried)

Debian and most linux distros (aside from Redhat i think) dont have a SMP kernel image built into the installer, and im not really in the mood to go recompiling a Kernel just yet.

If I Aptget (using the gui for it, whose name I forgot :/) the newest debian SMP kernel, it will have a bunch of other kernel packages it takes along with it, usually the versions are a bit newer so id assume thats why.

If I do that, is it safe to uncheck to remove all the old versions of those packages, or is there really no point?

Thanks guys.

just install the new kernel, It should automatically detect the kernel you need and install it for you I think, but either way, the new kernel will just be added to the boot menu and you will still be able to boot into the old kernels as well if that tickles your fancy.

Hmm, not seeing any SMP Kernels in the US and normal Debian repositories :/

I would just go ahead and install Etch:-) It should run just fine. I'm running Etch on 10 different work stations ranging from a Pll 266 with 192 MB RAM up to a P4 with 684 MB RAM. Etch is very good at detecting hardware. I'm also running Etch on a Plll 800 IBM eServer that has an 18 GB SCSI drive, it works just fine:-)