I'm running Mandrake 10.0, sorry Mandriva 10.0, and using LILO. When I first boot up, I get 2 choices for Linux (not counting failsafe and nonfb). I initially thought that one was the 2.4 kernel and the other was the 2.6. However, with either choice uname -r give the kernel as 2.6.3-7. I do notice that looking at LILO file they boot from different initrd files but the append section is the same. Anyway, here is the relevant section of LILO. Ignore my lables of 2.4 and 2.6.

image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="linux2.4"
root=/dev/hdb1
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append="devfs=mount acpi=ht splash=silent"
vga=788
read-only
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="linux-nonfb"
root=/dev/hdb1
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append="devfs=mount acpi=ht"
read-only
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.3-7mdk
label="linux2.6"
root=/dev/hdb1
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.3-7mdk.img
append="devfs=mount acpi=ht splash=silent"
read-only

So is there any real difference in the two main boot images?

Thank you

btw - I'm not having any problems, just curious

the file "/boot/initrd.img" is linked to the *current* default boot image. If you update your kernel, it will be linked to the new image, but you will still have the old image available, in case the new one doesn't work. So each instance of the kernel gets a separate entry in LILO, with the default pointing to the latest.

Thus, with only 2.6.3-7 installed, you have an entry for 2.6.3-7, and one for "linux", the default, which *also* points to 2.6.3-7.

Thank you for your quick and informative answer. Just what I was looking for. I love this website!

Of course now I'll have to update LILO.