I just changed my Dell Inspirion 6000 OS from Ubuntu to Zubuntu (it’s supposed to be a bit faster). It’s an old Dell I bought a few years ago, but still runs well; and runs better with Linux.
I wanted to check what my Dell service tag was, but off course the Service Tag on the bottom of the laptop has faded! Well – I didn’t want the hassle (even if it is relatively quick to reboot) of rebooting to BIOS to check what it was.
I found the following command in Ubuntu will retrieve your Service Tag.
sudo dmidecode -s system-serial-number
Great!
Have you found that drivers are readily available, especially for WiFi?
Thinking of installing Zubuntu on my Dell XPS M1530 as a second OS next to Windows 7.
Hi Daniel,
I have read of people having problems with the latest versions of Ubuntu.
I had problems (specifically with Wi-Fi and Flash) with Hardy Heron; however with Ubuntu/Zubuntu 9.10 I have had no problems whatsoever. I couldn’t comment on the Dell XPS M1530 specifically, but I have had no problems with my old Dell Inspirion 6000 (drivers installed “out of the box”), and would say that there is no harm in trying.
You could try running Xubuntu LiveCD, to test if you can use your wireless. But installing Xubuntu really doesn’t take long. If I remember correctly, Xubuntu installed in less than 20 minutes on my old laptop.