ОБновить ядро в дебиане-тестинг

Да, сохранит.

P.S.
Debian testing

[demetrio@tango ~]$ apt-cache search --names-only linux-image | grep 686
linux-image-2.6-686 - Linux kernel 2.6 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4
linux-image-2.6-686-bigmem - Linux kernel 2.6 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4
linux-image-2.6-686-smp - Linux 2.6 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 SMP - transition package
linux-image-2.6-vserver-686 - Linux kernel 2.6 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4
linux-image-2.6-xen-686 - Linux kernel 2.6 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4
linux-image-2.6.16-2-686 - Linux kernel 2.6.16 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 machines
linux-image-2.6.16-2-686-smp - Linux kernel 2.6.16 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 SMP machines
linux-image-2.6.16-2-vserver-686 - Linux kernel 2.6.16 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 machines
linux-image-2.6.16-2-xen-686 - Linux kernel 2.6.16 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 machines
linux-image-2.6.16-2-xen-vserver-686 - Linux kernel 2.6.16 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 machines
linux-image-2.6.17-2-686 - Linux 2.6.17 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4
linux-image-2.6.17-2-686-bigmem - Linux 2.6.17 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4
linux-image-2.6.17-2-vserver-686 - Linux 2.6.17 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4
linux-image-2.6.17-2-xen-686 - Linux 2.6.17 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4
linux-image-686 - Linux kernel image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4
linux-image-686-bigmem - Linux kernel image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4
linux-image-vserver-686 - Linux kernel image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4
linux-image-xen-686 - Linux kernel image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4
linux-image-2.6.15-1-686-smp - Linux kernel 2.6.15 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 SMP machines
linux-image-2.6.15-1-686 - Linux kernel 2.6.15 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 machines
linux-image-2.6.14-2-686 - Linux kernel 2.6.14 image on PPro/Celeron/PII/PIII/P4 machines

Интересно почему нет 2.6.17-2-686-smp ?

@Demetrio

a aptitude update давно делал ?

дело в том что линк http://packages.debian.org/cgi-bin/search_packages.pl?keywords=linux-image-2....

выдает ошибку

You have searched for packages that names contain linux-image-2.6.15-1-686 in all suites, all sections, and all architectures.

Can't find that package.

потому что smp alternatives.