Linux on a DELL INSPIRON B130

[daacosta]

My laptop is starting to have issues like the blue-screen, sometimes it just crawls and I am starting to consider buying another machine. However, I'd like to play with my old laptop and install Linux on it with minimum pain. Has anybody done this on a similar machine and which distro did he/she used? (I'd like to avoid all the pain involved in configuring my wireless internet card)

[techieMoe]

From what I can find, the Inspiron B130 has these specs (correct me if I'm wrong):

Intel Celeron M 420 (1.6gHz)
256MB RAM
Intel onboard video GMA 900 GM
40GB harddrive

I couldn't find anything about the wireless, but being an Intel board I assume it's an older Intel chipset? Those should work pretty well in Linux. I found several articles on Linux for the Inspiron B130. They're not necessarily up to date, but they might give you a start:

JJinuxLand: Linux: Fedora Core 4 on Dell Inspiron B130
JJinuxLand: Linux: Ubuntu 5.10 on Dell Inspiron B130
Debian GNU/Linux - Dell Inspiron B130
SuSE 10.1 on a Dell Inspiron B130
Linux on Laptops

[daacosta]

Thanks Moe,

I have burned Puppy Linux and ZenWalk to give them a try. Both of them gave me fantastic results (I am using ZenWalk right now) but the real test will be with the wireless connection. [ I am listening to smooth jazz ] Once I figured out how to see the applications using Zenwalk everything was a breeze.

The specs you pointed out were correct except for my 1GB RAM (I purchased more). My wireless card is a Dell Wireless 1370 WLAN MINI-PCI which is troublesome from what I have googled...

In any case I will try other live CD distros to see what happens...

Kind regards,