How to determine version of linux
 

I use the command uname -r
and the results are as follows but I need help interpreting this information as to what is the release and what is the kernel?
2.4.21-27.ELsmp
thank you for any help

2.4.21-27 is the kernel version

.smp is what kind of kernel. smp is a kernel for when you have a multi processor computer.

here is some more info about uname command:

http://www.ss64.com/bash/uname.html

You can take a look at /etc/issue and /etc/motd too. Theses files may show distribution information, like "Fedora Core release 5" or "Welcome to SuSE Linux 9.3".