Most people who have tried to install linux on a laptop know that it’s not the easiest thing in the world to accomplish.  It can go decently or it can be extremely painful.  It’s not as difficult as trying to convince the IRS you don’t owe money, but perhaps slightly more difficult than paying for gas for your SUV.

Dell was an early adopter of linux.  You can order a number of consumer pc’s and laptops preloaded with Ubuntu.  As a result, Dell has benefitted.  You can’t order Ubuntu on business pc’s, although you can get a few other distributions on certain boxes.

I recently ordered a Latitude 531 laptop with FreeDos (you can’t order it with Ubuntu and I won’t put Windows on it).  Xubuntu went on in no time flat.  Everything was fine except for the wireless.  This seems to be a big hitch… either your wireless is supported or it isn’t.  There are a lot of resources on the web that can be very helpful.

If your wireless isn’t supported and you don’t know any linux gurus, you’re likely to spend quite a bit of time getting it working (if you don’t simply make the laptop airborne).  The long and short of it is that you can use the Windows driver, which is aided and abetted by ndiswrapper.  This wraps around the driver and communicates with the OS.  There are a few other small adjustments, such as being sure to do all this with your right leg elevated and only on a Tuesday, then you’re off (I’m purposely ignoring WPA or better encryption setup).  There is also a brief experiment with modprobe-ing, but I won’t go any further.

Good news: because Dell is supporting linux on some of their hardware,  it tends to help with other hardware.  They have linux help and user forums.  The users have stepped right up with information and How-To’s, making the entire experience much less painful.  (linux.dell.com)

One little oddity I’ve been wondering about is BIOS updates.  I noticed that there is an update and downloaded it, paying particular attention to the instructions.  I could run the update from my Windows desktop if I wanted to (if I had one).  For `other’ OSes, they suggested creating a DOS boot disk with the utility and booting from floppy.

Oops - no floppy.

Seriously.

Forgetting about the BIOS for a moment (I can forget about anything with very little effort), I concentrated on bending the wireless to my will (for once) and convincing it to connect to my router.  A bit later I came across another little gem: there is Dell linux software to check for updates and install them if found. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

I downloaded the software and followed the circuitous instructions for non-RPM distros (Dell likes Red Hat and Suse but is smart enough to understand Debian/Ubuntu users need it too).  There is a common theme when finding web solutions to linux issues: two steps forward, one or two back.  You can cut and paste those commands, but you have to install a program first.  Then the commands don’t work because the specified switch is not valid as an argument.  The next argument is with my wife.  No, sorry… I told you I get distracted easily…  I needed GPG (encryption) to make this work.  I installed GPG but, as with most other things, you don’t always simply install something - there’s configuration too.  Several satisfying sudos and an su or two later, GPG was configured.

Those who know me can tell you it simply wasn’t going to be this easy.  I ran the update software and got a few errors.  A bit more research later and I pulled down the update and watched it get installed…. a linux BIOS update.  The laptop rebooted and all was well (except for the fact that I don’t make nearly enough money and it’s way too humid in PA).

Unlike most of my recent weeks, this one ended with two separate tasks actually working.  After the day I had at work it’s a really good thing it did (or I’d have to take up drinking - and I have been advised that I should go directly to drugs because it takes too long to get really good at drinking).

I’m finally at the point where I can advise most people to go ahead and put linux on their laptop, assuming they are up to a bit of simple research and some mindless tinkering.  The best idea, of course, is to determine that your hardware is fully supported before you install.

This is a good site to start with.

the power of people is a beautiful thing… linux is but one example of how it can work…