[lug] Centos 5 RHEL 5 yum / rpm and driver compatibility

[karl horlen]

I know that CentOS versions are essentially backported
RHEL versions.  Which would mean that the rpms are mix
match between the two.  At least in theory.

If I purchase a Dell that has RHEL5 installed with a 1
yr subscription, after that year runs out and I don't
want renew the subscription, could i just continue yum
updates from CentOS 5 on the factory shipped RHEL5?  

Or will there be conflicts, naming and otherwise, that
would prevent this and force me to either renew the
subscription or reinstall an otherwise working system
with CentOS to go forward with updates?

Finally, if Dell ships a system with RHEL5 that
supports the HW RAID controller they ship it with, can
I assume that the driver will be present in CentOS 5
distro at install time?  How do I check?  

If I was guaranteed this I would just purchase the
system without the RHEL subscription and install
CentOS on it myself.  I just don't want to have any
driver surprises if I take the DIY approach.  I want
the installer to see the HW RAID at install time and
know this is "just going to work".

I'm trying to get somebody at Dell support to try and
confirm this and get more specifics on the drivers but
they haven't gotten back to me yet.  Depending on who
you talk to on what day results in grossly different
answers on a wide variety of topics which never helps
the comfort factor.

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com