Post Installation Steps for Ubuntu 7.04 on a Dell Inspiron 1300

Here are some steps that I performed after installing Ubuntu 7.04 ("Fiesty Fawn") on a Dell Inspiron 1300. It might work for you, or it might not. It might work on other distributions and/or other machines, and it might not. This is mostly meant as a note for myself, but if you can make any use of it, feel free to do so. Old distros: 6.10, 6.06, 5.10.

Enable root password

By default, Ubuntu doesn't have password enabled for the root account. For security reasons you should enable this immediately after installation (this is not specific for Dell computers; should be done on all Ubuntu installations):

sudo passwd root

Making wireless network card work

The driver for the wireless network card in the Inspiron 1300 doesn't come with a Linux driver, and there is no such to find. Fortunately, the ndiswrapper project makes it possible to use a Windows driver on Linux. They have a great guide on how to make it work on Ubuntu.

Here's how I did it:

  1. Install package ndiswrapper-utils-1.9 and dependencies, if any.
  2. Get bcmwl5.sys and bcmwl5.inf (taken from the DRIVER dir of this file, found via this list searching for the network card name "Dell Wireless 1370" and the PCI ID 14e4:4318) and put them on the desktop.
  3. Run: 
    sudo ndiswrapper -i ~/Desktop/bcmwl5.inf
  4. Check status of installed drivers with: 
    sudo ndiswrapper -l
    Should return something like "bcmwl5 driver present, hardware present".
  5. Run: 
    sudo depmod -a
    If there is no error, continue.
  6. Load kernel module with: 
    sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
  7. Verify by dmesg (should contain something like "ndiswrapper version <version> loaded")
  8. Add line "ndiswrapper" to /etc/modules, if not already there. Add line "blacklist bcm43xx" to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist to disable built-in driver (since we want to use ndiswrapper instead). Unplug wired network cable, if plugged. Reboot.
  9. Set up wireless network using Network Manager icon (in the notification area at the clock)

Enabling native screen resolution 1280×800

Most likely you will only be able to select 1024×768 (which isn't a widescreen resolution, so things get all distorted) from the Gnome screen resolution utility. Here is what I did to enable the native resolution 1280×800:

Download and install 915resolution, which is a hack to the Intel graphics chip driver that enables widescreen support:

sudo apt-get install 915resolution

Log out and then back in (or reboot if that's not enough) and you will be in 1280×800 (or you should be able to select it from the screen resolution utility).

Enabling playback of encrypted DVDs

Install the package libdvdread3, then perform the following:

sudo sh /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh

Installing driver for Samsung CLP-510 colour laser printer

The driver comes with an autosetup tool, but it doesn't seem to work on Ubuntu, and the interface isn't very nice. The following steps will enable the printer under the standard Gnome printing tool.

  1. Download the latest driver from Samsung's website, and unpack it, resulting in a folder called 'cdroot'.
  2. cd cdroot/Linux
sudo cp noarch/at_root/etc/sane.d/smfp.conf /etc/sane.d/
sudo mkdir /usr/share/ppd/linuxprinting.org-gs-builtin/
sudo cp noarch/at_opt/share/ppd/CLP-510splc.ppd /usr/share/ppd/linuxprinting.org-gs-builtin/
sudo cp i386/at_root/usr/lib/libmfp.so.1.0.1 /usr/lib/
sudo cp i386/at_root/usr/lib/cups/backend/mfp /usr/lib/cups/backend/
sudo cp i386/at_root/usr/lib/cups/filter/* /usr/lib/cups/filter/
  3. Add the printer via Gnome printing setup tool

Enabling Bluetooth and GPRS

Use this guide to be able to connect to the Internet through a Bluetooth/GPRS enabled mobile phone (not yet tested!).

Enabling remote access to X programs (not Dell specific)

Set X11Forwarding to yes in /etc/ssh/sshd_config on the server. Install xauth on both client and server. Use ssh -X user@host to connect to the server from the client.

Note: This is not a guide to make things work. This is only a description of how I made things work for me.
You may use it as inspiration for how to make things work for you, but I guarantee nothing. I also cannot guarantee that following the above won't render your system unusable.