I'd attempted installing Ubuntu on the Insipiron last year, but, being an admitted Ubuntu-newbie, I couldn't figure out the convoluted method to get Unbuntu to recognize the wifi card in the laptop. After a week of trying, I finally gave up and went back to WinXP - it is my wife's laptop after all and, while she was doing well to control her annoyance at my pursuit, I didn't want to push my luck.
Well, when XP finally was zapped by some annoying script in an ad, we finally decided to wipe it and start anew. I reinstalled Vista that came with it and then decided to try Unbuntu 9.04 on a second partition. After a rough start getting the LiveCD for Ubuntu burned (apparently burning from a Windows machine corrupts the .iso image - I wound up having to burn the CD from a desktop already running Ubuntu...weird), I installed Ubuntu with not a single problem!
Enabling the proprietary hardware drivers released by Broadcomm for Linux brought the wifi up immediately! I all can say is thanks! I love having Ubuntu as an option! I really do believe that for the casual user, Ubuntu is an excellent option to consider - fast, lightweight and relatively easy to maintain. The only nagging drawback is that Ubuntu still does require some command line skill to really maximize its potential - a fact which would undoubtedly scare some people away. But if haven't tried it yet, you really should!
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