In the drop-down of the profile config page of my Linode it says:

(Latest 2.6 Series (2.6.18.8-linode16)

On the support page for the different Kernels (http://www.linode.com/support/kernels.cfm) there are two listings for "latest:

Latest 2.6 Series (2.6.18.8-linode16)

Latest 2.6 Series (2.6.23.17-linode43)

with each listing a different set of kernels.
After booting the "Latest 2.6 Series" :

uname -a
Linux li19-162 2.6.18.8-linode16 #1 SMP Mon Jan 12 09:50:18 EST 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Maybe the support page can be a bit clearer about what "Latest 2.6 Series" actually is.

Isn't one the UML "latest" and one the Xen "latest"?

Yes, one is for UML and one is for Xen

so which one is for UML, and which one is for XEN?

-linode16 is the last "Xen Flavored" kernel (all newer ones for Xen are from kernel.org and use the pv_ops features, one of the reasons that they have newer version numbers, but Latest doesn't point there)

-linode43 is the latest UML kernel.

Once you log in, the LPM will only show you kernels for your "flavor" (Xen or UML) and there will only be one "Latest"

ok that makes sense. but to use a newer kernel, ex: 2.6.24, i would have to manually select that right? and not select 2.6.18.8-linode16 like i do now...

2.6.18 is causing problems. it just seems misleading for the 2.6.18-linode16 to be called the 'latest 2.6' when there is 2.6.28 available....

After 2.6.18, the method of Xen support in the kernel completely changed (from a series of "third-party" patches to more general support using pvops). The newer method is still..... a little rusty in spots.

You can consider 2.6.18 to be the latest stable kernel, with the newer versions still experimental. I was thinking it was just about time for a few months there, but then 2.6.28 came out and woooah did it suck.

wow. ok. i guess i'm pretty surprised. i thought that 2.6.28 was good to go w/ xen by now. I have to get to at least 2.6.24 though... how serious are these bugs you speak of? can you provide a resource that gives some detail on them? thanks for the help so far.

Been running v2.6.28.3-linode17 for a while now, no problems, runs fine

_________________

Where "Thought Crime" is commited
http://www.rejecttheherd.net

I've been running the stock Lenny kernel (2.6.26) via PV-GRUB (which I suppose is really the potential issue) since Lenny was released with no problem.

thanks for the info... I think i'll go with 2.6.28.3-linode17 for now. i appreciate the help.

The original 2.6.28-linode15 had at least one panic bug that I hit twice... however, 2.6.28.3-linode17 has been good to me so far (11.5 days and counting) and I haven't heard of any one else having troubles.

Are you running Arch? If so, you're probably used to living on the edge a little bit.

no Arch. gonna try out 2.6.28.3-linode17. we'll see how it goes.

$ uname -sr
Linux 2.6.28.3-linode17
$ uptime
 15:49:42 up 21 days,  3:02,  1 user,  load average: 0.14, 0.04, 0.02
$

_________________
Rgds
Stephen
(Linux user since kernel version 0.11)