No, you don't: when you install a new kernel, the older one is not removed
and can still be booted from the "Advanced options for Trisquel GNU/Linux",
in GRUB's menu, which appears little after you switch your computer on
(although its display may require you to press a key, maybe Esc or Shift: I
do not know what is Trisquel 9's default).
A crash "right before the login would appear" does not look like a kernel
panic. Text sessions, such as the one you can access by pressing
Ctrl+Alt+F1, probably work. You may be able to properly shutdown the
computer from the text session, with the command 'poweroff'.
In the French-speaking, a similar problem was reported and I could not
understand the problem from the logs:
https://trisquel.info/forum/linux-libre#comment-149512 and below. I have
tested linux-libre-lts myself and faced other issues, which changed from a
boot to the next one: a black screen with a fixed cursor, the desktop
environment that does not start after entering the password, my Wifi adapter
not working (although 'lsusb' lists it), and no way to properly shutdown.
I will contact Jason Self.
