bios update with ubuntu?/ What bios version allows suse to boot?

As far as I know, since you have to use the Dell-supplied BIOS updates, which I only think come in a Windows flavour at the moment, it would only be possible to update from Windows at the moment. I could be wrong; search the Drivers Downloads for your particular machine. But with the recent deal to supply Ubuntu on some machines, maybe debs will become available. Although, since their corporate PCs/servers can run Red Hat, maybe RPMs aren't out of order. The trouble is, will that only be for the particular machines that are certified, or across the line?
don't know about Suse. You don't specify the problem either.

Hello and thanks for the reply. suse has a problem with the keyboard not responding after the dell bios upgrade. So I took the trouble to reinstall xp and downloaded a previous version 2.0.5. It worked fine.

Here's a link on how to create a boot CD that is used to flash the bios. Basically, it's just like making a bootable floppy, except on a CD instead (for those of us who do not have a floppy).

http://www.linuxinsight.com/how-to-flash-motherboard-bios-from-linux-no-dos-windows-no-floppy-drive.html

I expect the Windows-based utility that Dell provides will not work with FreeDOS. I guess someone would have to risk their machine by testing it. Would that be covered in the warranty?

You are confused. The Windows-based flash is a program that runs within Windows. The other method of flashing your BIOS offered by Dell, is to use a bootable floppy disk (you cannot run the MSDOS-based flash from within Windows).

The floppy disk typically has MSDOS installed and Dell's flash program runs after you have booted the computer using the floppy disk.

The floppy disk method is in fact the safest way to flash your BIOS. I know first hand because I tried using the Windows flashing program and it froze and my computer turned into a very expensive paper weight. I was lucky enough to get it exchanged at no cost.

For those of us who do now have a floppy drive, the only other option is to use the Windows-based flashing program or make a bootable CD. The bootable CD is the safest way to flash your BIOS in this case. When you make a bootable CD, the computer boots and behaves just like as if it were booted with a bootable floppy disk.

Now, to address your confuse of what DOS is. MSDOS is a flavour of DOS. FreeDOS is a flavour of DOS. They are both DOS. You can think of it to MSDOS is to DOS as openSUSE is to Linux :)

I choose to use FreeDOS because it is...well...free. If you use MSDOS, you will need to make sure you have a license.

So, to sum it up: Windows-based flash is risky. DOS-based flash is the safest. Need to make a bootable CD if you do not have a floppy drive. Use the link in my previous post for instructions on making a bootable CD in Linux.

Message Edited by Al_vin on 05-11-2007 10:20 AM

Thanks for the GREAT LINK AL_vin. Appreciate it!