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Dell Inspiron B130
Introduction
This is a guide to running Linux with the Dell Inspiron B130 laptop. The Inspiron B130 is a middle to low range laptop with poor Linux support due to the Dell 1370 wireless controller.
This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which modules you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required modules have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.
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Specifications
| Name | Dell Inspiron B130 |
| Processor | Intel Pentium-M 730 1.73GHz |
| Screen | 14.1” WXGA |
| RAM | 512MB |
| HDD | 60GB |
| Optical Drive | DVD-ROM/CD-RW |
| Graphics | Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 |
| Network | 10/100 Ethernet, Dell 1370 802.11g Wireless or Dell 1470 802.11a/b/g Wireless |
| Other | 3 x USB2.0 |
Linux Compatibility
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Yes | |
| Screen | Yes | |
| HDD | Yes | |
| Optical Drive | Yes | |
| Graphics | Yes | |
| Sound | Yes | Use the snd-hda-intel module |
| Ethernet | Yes | |
| Wireless | Partial | |
| 56K Modem | Not Tested | |
| USB | Yes |
Notes
As default the native screen resolution of the Inspiron B130 laptop is 1280×800, however due to how the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 functions this resolution may not be usable right away. You can view our Configuring the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 & 950 guide for installation details.
This Dell 1370 wireless card in the Dell Inspiron B130 does not have any native drivers available for Linux so you need to use ndiswrapper. For installation instructions you may wish to view our Configuring the ndiswrapper module guide. The Dell windows driver to use can be found here.
Some versions of the B130 come with a Dell Wireless 1470 (802.11a/b/g) Dual-Band WLAN miniPCI Card (pciid: 14e4:4319). There are three possibilities for configuring this card documented at the openSUSE wiki, ndiswrapper, the proprietary Broadcom STA Driver, and the native Linux b43 Drivers available in kernels 2.6.24 and beyond. Under kernel 2.6.30-rc6-git3-4-default for OpenSUSE 11, the native b43 driver works for this device, after running /usr/sbin/install_bcm43xx_firmware to install the firmware, then making sure that the radio is physically enabled (fn-F2 if it is not - dmesg generated warnings for me), and running NetworkManager (or ifup wlan0).
Some versions of the Inspiron B130 include the Intel 2200BG wireless controller. For this you can use the ipw2200 module. The Intel 2200BG would make this laptop must better to use under Linux.
Summary
For the Dell Inspiron B130 with the Dell 1370 wireless controller this laptop can be tricky to configure. However the Inspiron B130 with the Intel 2200BG wireless controller is much easier to setup and works well under Linux.
Discussion
I use Zorin OS 6 Lite, a lightweight version of Lubuntu designed for older computers. It works similar to Windows 7. Using Zorin Lite, I am able to boot up in half the time. Youtube works flawlessly at 480p, and system performance is perfect. It has given new life to my laptop! I also use Windows 7 (dual-boot), and it is slow compared to Zorin Lite. My laptop has the Intel Wireless driver, so Zorin recognizes it, and the sound card and integrated graphics right out of the box. It only took me 20 minutes to install this linux distro. I couldn't be happier. I also run Puppy Linux on this sometimes. It works too. For net surfing and office uses, this computer is perfect. It is too old for using GIMP and Avidemux. Save photo and video editing for a more powerful laptop.
I installed Ubuntu 12.04 last week, and it's run flawlessly. Sound, graphics, and wireless worked without a tweak. Much faster boot time than the original WinXP!
I did a Fedora 16 install from a live CD and it was completely painless. Wireless (with WPA2) worked with no problems at all. Sound works and graphics performance was surprising.
wireless drivers for Ubuntu now available online for easy download.
just use the ethernet ports to get them.
Please need controllers Dell Inspiron B130
Was a pain to install wireless. Had to call the guru out for that one.Bold Text