Get the current kernel information by typing in the shell:
~$ uname -a
Get the current distribution release information by looking into the following files:
example on any system:
~$ less /etc/*release
System-specific:
Novell SuSE
/etc/SuSE-release
Red Hat
/etc/redhat-release, /etc/redhat_version
Fedora
/etc/fedora-release
Slackware
/etc/slackware-release, /etc/slackware-version
Debian
/etc/debian_release, /etc/debian_version,
Mandrake
/etc/mandrake-release
Yellow dog
/etc/yellowdog-release
Sun JDS
/etc/sun-release
Solaris/Sparc
/etc/release
Gentoo
/etc/gentoo-release