My computer seems to take forever to boot. Does it have to read thru all thes in the '/boot/ directory or can I delete all but the last number[-4.4.0-34-generic]
series???

dave@dave-OptiPlex-780:/boot$
dave@dave-OptiPlex-780:/boot$
dave@dave-OptiPlex-780:/boot$ ls
abi-3.19.0-31-generic config-3.19.0-31-generic grub initrd.img-4.4.0-34-generic System.map-4.4.0-24-generic vmlinuz-4.4.0-24-generic
abi-4.4.0-21-generic config-4.4.0-21-generic initrd.img-3.19.0-31-generic memtest86+.bin System.map-4.4.0-28-generic vmlinuz-4.4.0-28-generic
abi-4.4.0-22-generic config-4.4.0-22-generic initrd.img-4.4.0-21-generic memtest86+.elf System.map-4.4.0-31-generic vmlinuz-4.4.0-31-generic
abi-4.4.0-24-generic config-4.4.0-24-generic initrd.img-4.4.0-22-generic memtest86+_multiboot.bin System.map-4.4.0-34-generic vmlinuz-4.4.0-34-generic
abi-4.4.0-28-generic config-4.4.0-28-generic initrd.img-4.4.0-24-generic System.map-3.19.0-31-generic vmlinuz-3.19.0-31-generic
abi-4.4.0-31-generic config-4.4.0-31-generic initrd.img-4.4.0-28-generic System.map-4.4.0-21-generic vmlinuz-4.4.0-21-generic
abi-4.4.0-34-generic config-4.4.0-34-generic initrd.img-4.4.0-31-generic System.map-4.4.0-22-generic vmlinuz-4.4.0-22-generic
dave@dave-OptiPlex-780:/boot$
dave@dave-OptiPlex-780

Generally the thing to do is keep one spare boot option(I usually keep it slackware-huge kernel) and have it in case a disk error or some other thing nukes your boot option. The rest can go.

I can't imagine any situation where the number of files in /boot would affect boot time.

Have a look at bootchart - or if fortunate enough to have it, systemd-analyze.

Is there a "start job" running at boot, with a Cylon eye looking asterisk?
(***)

Yeah, Debian changes are really annoying...


@OP:
Your boot loader won't look and load all those kernels.
The way Linux is launched is via boot loader and it depends on the distro. Usually people use a distro that does almost everything to run and start Linux. It is actually not the best way, it is the lazy and easiest way. In principle you can tweak your loaded Linux distro and adapt yourself it to make it start.
You can check and get here more infos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_startup_process

Which boot do you use? If probably grub, post us your /boot/grub/grub.cfg


You can post us your mbr if you want that we check your mbr/boot loader... Eg I use Syslinux on this current machine.

I don't mind change, especially how fast the boot is and Sid runs smother\longer too...

For me boot was finding an invalid swap in /etc/fstab so then running a check on the swap space. I decide to have 3 OSs but use the same swap partition (without really configuring it.)

I have one machine on systemd. If systemd comes across any partitions it can't find instantly, it stops everything and searches for 90 seconds to find it. For some reason this happens to me with ZFS on some boots.

The answer is: "No."

The files that you find in /boot are kernel images, used by the boot-loader (usually GRUB) to load the initial, resident portion of the Linux kernel into memory. GRUB is capable of understanding disk-file formats, so it locates and loads only the kernel-image which you specified (or, which was the default) in the initial boot-time menu.

There are a great many things which happen thereafter, particularly including the at-boot-time "device discovery" process, which takes place in a somewhat-peculiar state early in the boot process. (This is what the "initial RAMdisk," or initrd, process is all about.) Stock distros can spend quite a bit of time here as they decide which non-resident kernel extension modules must be loaded to support the hardware that it finds. (But, on the other hand, you can stick their software on just-about anything, and it will find a way to start ... "DEC token-ring controllers," anyone?)

Once this stage is finished and the final kernel is present in memory, there is still a fairly-elaborate startup sequence that must be gone through, before XWindows/XOrg is finally started and the familiar GUI login-window appears.

There are many things that you can do to save time on this, if you so desire. (I once had a Gentoo-based system that started in six seconds flat ...) Or, you could just step over and grab a cup of coffee.

Shutdown also takes time because it is basically "doing the same thing in reverse." Many subsystems are notified that the system is closing, and the shutdown-sequencer then waits for them to tidy up their affairs and die in the proper sequence before the command is finally given to "power down."