[Edit] Sometime after I originally wrote this HOWTO: I came to my senses and realised that the M1330 is far too cool for school and hence should not be disabled by running any version of Windoze. I have since reformatted my M1330 and it now only runs Ubuntu. If you have any kind of choice in the matter then I would heartily recommend you do the same! If you really need a dual or triple boot then hopefully this guide and the comments should help.[/Edit]
So - got a shiny new Dell XPS M1330? Good choice, you’re obviously smarter then the average bear - but now do you want to lose the Dell bloatware and see how it runs with a grown up OS? Perhaps you need to keep Vista on though for some reason, and that media direct button for quick playing DVDs is nice too… plus it would be nice to be able to share your Mozilla Firefox bookmarks and Thunderbird profiles between the 2 OSs. The solution for you my friend is a funky triple boot installation.
What we start with: A shiny new Dell XPS M1330 just out of the box with Vista + ton of OEM crap preinstalled.
What we end up with: An XPS capable of triple booting into either Ubuntu, Vista or Media Direct from the MD button and the ability to share files between the two OSs.
What we will need: Vista install disk, Ubuntu live cd, Dell drivers and utilities disk, Dell media direct cd.
DISCLAIMER: This guide requires a complete wipe of your drive including losing the useless Dell recovery partition. If that worries you then you should probably stop reading now and stick with Vista 
[Edit] As Toph suggests below if you have the available disk space on another device and are worried about it all going tits-up then it’s probably a good idea to make an image of your hard drive using something like Ghost.[/Edit]
[Edit] Having lived with the below config for a while I have some additional advice to offer for what it’s worth. If you can possibly do without Vista then save yourself a lot of heartbreak and forget it. It is, well, shit. Ubuntu on the other hand runs on the M1330 like a dream. If whatever you do can be done under Ubuntu then save the diskspace and stick with “the one true operating system”. If you do need Vista and a triple boot though then this guide should get you there.[/Edit]
Step 1. Wipe the drive
1.1 Turn on the M1330 with the Ubuntu live CD in the drive - press F12 on the DELL screen to enter the boot screen and select the CD drive.
1.2 Select ‘Start or install Ubuntu’ and wait for the Ubuntu desktop to load.
1.3 Start ‘Gnome Partition Editor’ from the Administration menu.
1.4 You should see four partitions - these are Dell recovery, existing Vista installation and 2 Dell media direct partitions.
1.5 Select each partition in turn and click ‘Delete’. When you have 100% available space save your changes and shutdown. You now have a blank drive. Woo hoo!
Step 2. Prepare drive for Vista install using Media Direct CD
2.1 Turn on the M1330 with the Dell Media Direct CD in the drive - press F12 on the DELL screen to enter the boot screen and select the CD drive.
2.2 From the option menu select 2. Custom allocation and enter how much space in GB you would like for Vista.
2.3 When complete the system should restart and you’ll be left with a black screen and flashing prompt. Turn off the M1330.
Step 3. Install Vista
3.1 Turn on the M1330 with the Vista installation CD in the drive - press F12 on the DELL screen to enter the boot screen and select the CD drive.
3.2 For a Windows installation Vista proved fairly quick and painless - follow the prompts until you end up on a Vista desktop. This is about as painless as Vista ever gets 
Step 4. Install Dell Drivers and utilities.
4.1 At the Vista desktop insert the Dell drivers and utilities CD that came with your M1330. Click the ‘Install or run program’ icon when prompted.
4.2 Install the drivers that match your M1330 configuration. NOTE: The tick marks indicate which hardware is installed.
Step 5. Install Dell Media Direct
5.1 At the Vista desktop insert the Dell media direct CD that came with your M1330. Click the ‘Install or run program’ icon when prompted.
5.2 Click Install - after a few(!) minutes you should be able to press ‘Enter’ and exit. Shut down and start media direct by pressing the MD button. This should do an initial build of the files after which you can try a DVD or something.
Step 6. Install Ubuntu (I used the AMD 64 cut of Gutsy Gibbon).
6.1 Turn on the M1330 with the Ubuntu live CD in the drive - press F12 on the DELL screen to enter the boot screen and select the CD drive.
6.2 Select ‘Start or install Ubuntu’ and wait for the Ubuntu desktop to load.
6.3 Double click the Install icon on the desktop and choose your timezone/keyboard.
6.4 IMPORTANT: At the ‘Prepare disk space’ dialogue choose Manual.
6.5 You should now be in the partion editor. You will see something like:
- /dev/sda1 fat16 (this is a Dell MD/boot partition I think)
- /dev/sda2 ntfs (Vista install)
- /dev/sda3 unknown (our target partition for Ubuntu)
- /dev/sda6 fat32 (Dell MD partition).
6.6 OK - now we need to delete the single Ubuntu partition so we can add the 3 new ones we require (/, /home and swap) select the unknown partition (- /dev/sda3 unknown in example above) and click ‘Delete Partition’. This should leave you with a ‘free space’ row.
6.7 Highlight the free space and select ‘Create partition’. First we need to create our root (/) partition. Leave all options as they are except size and mount point. There are plenty of guides to partioning out there but as a guide I had 122 Gb left after Vista and MD to dedicate to Ubuntu so I partitioned as follows:
Mount point: n/a Use as: swap New partition size: 8Gb (twice my RAM)
Mount point: / Use as: ext3 New partition size: 30Gb ( I tend to install a lot of crap!)
Mount point: /home Use as: ext3 New partition size: 85Gb (remainder afer swap and /). This will be the partition shared with Vista so will have all music & media files, Mozilla profiles etc.
Once you have created the 3 new partitions and have no more free space click ‘Forward’. If you get an error like ‘file system doesn’t have expected sizes for windows to like it’ click ‘Ignore’ - it’s just Dell MD messing with your mind.
6.7 Complete the Ubuntu install by following the prompts. Once completed and you reboot to Grub you’ll see Ubuntu plus the fact that Vista (Longhorn) and Dell MD (XP Embedded) have both been recognised by Grub. Boot into Ubuntu and marvel at it’s coolness for a while to check you’re happy 
6.8 (Dell/Broadcom Wireless only). If you haven’t got the Intel wireless card then a cpl of additional steps to get wireless under Ubuntu working:
6.8.1 In a term do:
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude upgrade
sudo apt-get install build-essentials
6.8.2 Visit http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net and get the latest version of ndiswrapper
6.8.2 Extract the ndiswrapper-version.tar.gz file and in a terminal
cd /path/to/extracted/ndiswrapper-version
make
make install
6.8.3 Download the following installer:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/16/1436371/bcm43xx-0.3.2-internet.tar.gz
6.8.4 Extract the tar and double click the installer.py file. When prompted select ‘Install ndiswrapper and Broadcom Windows driver’
6.8.5 Reboot and you should have wireless working.
Step 7. Share the /home partition with Vista
7.1 Reboot into Vista
7.2 Download FS-Driver from http://www.fs-driver.org/
7.3 Right click on the downloaded .exe file and select properties. Click the ‘Compatibility Tab’ and check the box for ‘Run this program in compatibilty mode for:’. Select ‘Windows XP (Service Pack 2) from the drop-down. Click OK.
7.4 Double click the .exe file and follow the installation steps. When you get to the ‘Drive Letters’ dialogue you can choose a drive letter for your home partition (I chose Z:). You could also choose a letter for your root (/) partition if you like but not required and personally I’d prefer that that partition was only accessed from within Linux.
7.5 Reboot into Vista and you should be able to access your /home partition
7.6 Yeah I know you’re done now and you can’t wait to rush off and play with all those bootable partitions of funtential but take 5 secs and give me a digg or leave a comment saying thanks or telling us about how it was for you as it took me longer to write this then it took me to do it cheers!
(Optional - don’t blame me for any damage caused by this!) Remove the Windows and Intel stickers - on mine these came off very simply using nothing more than my fingernail. If there is gunk left on the surface you can remove it by pressing with the sticky side of the removed sticker (worked for me). If you are going to remove them then do it as soon as possible, otherwise you may be left with 2 little squares of a slightly different colour/a lot more gunk to remove/both.
Nice article,
Just one note: it is now advisable to use Intel’s iwlwifi driver. It will apparently be merged into the 2.6.24 kernel, but until then you can download the driver and the microcode from http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/?p=iwlwifi
Talk about perfect timing… I was just researching the M1330 and was looking around for other users experiences and how they dealt with MD and Linux.
One suggestion for the howto: Perhaps the first step could be a suggestion that the user make a full image (g4u, Ghost, Acronis, etc) of their drive if possible? This way they have the option to return to back to square one if they bork something?
Friends of mine who know a heckuva lot more than I do were suggesting instead to use a separate NTFS partition for data sharing between linux and windows, and NOT share the /home partition– they felt that they trusted linux to be able to handle the NTFS better than windows ext3.
In fact if I understood right, they were saying the Windows “ext3″ driver is actually ext2, so doesn’t include journaling.
For what it’s worth….
But thanks for the HowTo - gave me some more ideas to chew on!
thanks a lot for this guide! very easy to apply.
great job!
thanks again
Just wanted to take a moment and thank you for the great tutorial. There were some minor discrepancy with some spelling and wording but overall I’m down to the last step. Again thanks.
Hi - I am waiting for my new M1330 will arrive in next week, and I will definately use your excelent guide. I just have one question. Wil it help with driver issues to use the dell live CD (http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_7.10#Desktops_and_Notebooks_with_Ubuntu_Desktop_Edition_7.10) or is this dell restore ubuntu cd not cappable of making a normal ubuntu installation?
Marcus - I haven’t seen that Dell CD but I think it’s worth trying. To be honest I don’t use a lot of the devices (cardreaders, webcam, fingerprint reader etc) so I haven’t experienced any issues with the standard Ubuntu install.
As an update - my M1330 has been running perfectly under both Gutsy and Vista, aside from the usual Vista specific issues. Vista is truly poor IMO and should not have been released in the state it is in. My first set of essential Vista security updates put the M1330 into a hard reboot loop and I had to repair from the Vista CD.
Given what I know now and with the increased maturity of Ubuntu plus Virtualbox I think I would not have gone dual boot and would just run Gutsy - I spend 90% of my time on that side of the fence and the M1330 is an absolute joy to work with.
Thank you very much!
Thanks a lot - your tutorial worked perfect
Hi,
I was just wondering if you can boot Dell Media Direct from the separate button this way?’
I am afraid the media direct button will loose its functionality because it will also start the GRUB. I haven’t followed your instructions, but after playing around a bit I ended up in this situation: If I press the media direct button Media Direct boots, but after a second or so the GRUB also comes up and sort of takes over. I can run Media Direct from within Vista without any trouble..
I am willing to reinstall everything if I end up in the following situation:
- Media Direct Button -> Starts Media Direct (nothing else)
- Power button -> Starts the GRUB loader.
Will this be the case if I follow your instructions?
My thanks in advance!
Hendrik
Hi Hendrik - my media direct button works fine after following this, although to be honest I don’t use it much as Ubuntu loads very quickly and that way I get to use Amarok
cheers
Nice article. You have mentioned in 1.4 there were two Media Direct partition. Those are not two real partition. The first one is the extended partition. The second one is real media direct partition.
Ideally they should make the extended partition to some (say 130gb) and again partition that to 2 gb for Media Direct and 128 for vista.
In this case I can simply wipe of the Vista and divide in to two further partition and make dual boot vista, linux (with Media Direct as well)..
Dear Daryl
Good article - i have been reading around all day and had just about decided this is what I need to do, and it’s nice to have it all clearly set out. I think I’ll try to buy a spare internal hard disk from Dell just in case.
Geof
great article! I’m writing this on my triple-boot XPS.. followed your instructions and it worked a treat. The Dell Media buttons all work, and I grub gives me the option to doot ubuntu or vista - nice!
The only grey area for me was whether to go with the ubuntu 7.10 iso image from the ubuntu site, or get the Dell version from their site.. in the end, the dell site was down when I tried to get the disk images from there, so I went with the Gutsy Gibbon from the ubuntu site and it worked fine. Thanks again.
Thanks man for making this HOWTO!! It saved me days of fooling around with stupid software from DELL and Windows.
Received the laptop yesterday and I must say I was a little shaky when wiping the harddrive clean.. this guide had my heart in its hands there for a while…
After Vista I installed Sabayon Linux, but the installer couldnt find MedaDirect when configuring GRUB so it had to be done manually.
Peace.
Thanks a lot, very useful.
Great article. Can’t wait to try it on my M1530 when it arrives.
Really nice. Thanks a lot. I had some problems with the start and install Ubuntu option. Works fine though if one runs the second choice: start Ubuntu (safe graphics mode).
I’m in the middle of an Ubuntu install following these instructions.
For those who were asking about the Dell reinstallation discs from their wiki, don’t bother! The Dell DVD contains a regular Ubuntu live disc as well as a larger set of files to do a factory reinstall of Ubuntu on your M1330. If you want to do a dual/triple boot, then you can’t do it with that disc.
So instead of downloading the 4GB DVD from Dell, go grab the latest Gutsy Gibbon CD image.
Hi,
Sorry If I make a lot of mistakes, but I’m Spanish and my English isn’t perfect.
My question:
When you arrive to partition editor (Installing Ubuntu) you already have 4 partitions.
Which ones are the logical in your How-To¿?¿ because you have a maximum of 4 primary partitions.
Thanks a lot for making this how to!!!
PS: Dou you know some how-to about installing VirtualBox?, because I’ve already installed it on my PC but I can’t use USB ports in my Virtual Windows XP!!!!!
Will this work on the M1530?
Hi,
First time installing Ubuntu and going through the instructions above.
Every time it hangs after this line:
* Running local boot scripts (/etc/rc.local) [OK]
Any ideas what might be going wrong?
Thanks,
Greg.
Greg - not sure what’s causing that and haven’t heard of anyone else with teh same problem.
Might be worth burninga fresh copy of the Ubuntu CD in case there’s somtething corrupt on there?
cheers
Hola Alex
I don’t remember the primary/logical partitions being a problem during my install, as in I didn’t specify and let the tool decide.
Sorry - can;t help on the virtualbox issue.
‘ta luego!
Great write up. I can be reached at thesims2b@gmail.com..
My question is how and where did you get linux that will play dvd movies. I have tried various distros and none seem to play the dvd movies. Please advise. If i find this out i can rid myself of vista completly. Also is it possible to run the sims 2 under linux using cdega or one of the other emulators. Pelase help
Thank you for taking the time to write so detailed a guide. I spent an exhausting evening fighting with MediaDirect– your tutorial looks like it’ll save the day [when I work up the courage to attempt tomorrow!]
Thanks again.
Lynch - found this link for SIMS2, looks like it won’t run under cedega:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-games-33/sims-2-for-linux-or-at-least-binaries-230255/
and for DVDs
http://www.debuntu.org/how-to-play-dvd-under-ubuntu-linux
cheers
Ok I tried this everything went smoothly till the end when I used the IFS thing. It was about to ask me to specify a drive letter but then says “cannot find the file specified.” Now I don’t know what to do. :/
Thanks my friend! Worked like a charm on my Dell 1520 laptop
Hi
I want to intall this “triple boot” on my new 1530, and i got a few questions about it before to try.
1 - should it works fine with openSUSE? or works only with ubuntu? what do you think? ok, dont matter at all, i will try it and check it, but please, give me your opinion .
2 - when you delete de partition sda3 (extended, i think) and make the linux partitions ¿where is the MD after that? ¿did you reserved some site or did you use all the space available to fill it with the linux partitions?? that point it’s very mysterious for me.
3 - and the last question. After installing ubuntu and so…will i able to install codecs and fs-driver in MD ?? i think that is very important to see the videos of my /home partition.
thanks for your efforts!! its a very good work.
P.D: im spanish too, your ” ‘ta luego” was very funny, thats is the real pronunciation we make in Spain!
I just got my M1330 and having some problem with keyboard, the space bar is malfunction.
Ubuntu 8.04 is out on 4/24. Does anyone successful install (dual/triple boot) Ubuntu 8.04 instead of 7.10 ?
A guy has Media Direct button to boot Leopard/Other OS on Dell Laptops.
Here: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=102227
Just an update - apologies for not replying to comments but I haven’t had web access for a month due to moving house.
As far as this triple boot thing goes I lived with it for a few months and yes all worked fine but I found myself hardly ever using both Vista and Dell MD. So yesterday I basically wiped the whole machine and put on 8.04 Hardy Heron as the only OS!
My first Linux distro was a Debian cut many moons ago that fitted on 7 floppies. Since then I’ve tried most distros but I have to say that Ubuntu seem to have got it exactly right and the M1330 could have been built for linux. I run XP in Virtualbox which is perfectly good enough for any .NET projects etc and I am happy to reclaim the drive space ‘wasted’ on Vista and MD.
For those of you trying to replicate a triple boot with 8.04 my first recommendation would be not to - just use Ubuntu only! However if you need Windows and/or MD then I would follow the steps above with a Gutsy CD then just upgrade from within Ubuntu –» Administration –» Update Manager. You’ll end up with a Horny, sorry Hardy Heron triple boot
Juan
1. Not sure - OpenSuse is pretty smart so I would think no problem.
2. I installed MD before changing the partitions then left those alone:
- /dev/sda1 fat16 (this is a Dell MD/boot partition I think)
- /dev/sda2 ntfs (Vista install)
- /dev/sda3 unknown THIS WAS WHERE I CREATED THE UBUNTU PARTITIONS
- /dev/sda6 fat32 (Dell MD partition).
3. Not sure - I didn’t really end up using MD that much.
Thanks for the tutorial!
Just a quick question…in the event that something goes wrong, or for some strange reason I decide to return to Vista only, how hard is it to return to my factory settings? If I wipe the hard drive and use my Windows install disk, should everything be back to the original state?
Thanks again!
Hi,
Nice work man!
I get my m1330 in few weeks. cant wait. its my dream machine.
I think very nice guide! 1 question: i would like to quartro boot with OS X (mac). is it possible? Is so, please update HOW to install it. Is it also possible to share files and stuff between Vista/Ubuntu?osx?
bye
UPDATE:
Triple will be enough I think. (if 4 not possible)just leave MD.
WHEN to install OS X? Ho to make it “share” files?
Bye
Could you make a NEW HOW TO, tripleboot Vista/ Ubunu 8.04/ OsX 10.5.2? (MediaDirect?)
ty man
great work
I’ve got a 1530 coming soon and would also like to see a tripleboot Vista/ Ubunu 8.04/ OsX 10.5.2 install.
Hi,
Congratulations for the great article.
I followed your suggestion and the triple boot is now working with my XPS m1530.
Thanks a lot,
Maiquel Sampaio
Daryl,
Like to say thanks to this article - it proved very useful & quick - in fact I spent more time looking for documentation from my wireless provider than I did wiping and re-installing the above
Only Problem I’ve had is re-installing the MD, that ran into errors - not sure how much I’d use this facility so didn’t really care when it wasn’t listed in Grub.
Cheers
Hey buddy,
I didnt get one thing that why you want to wipe off the drive initially ? is there any specific reason ?? bcz my understanding says that we can squeze the drive using vista utility.
Kindly giv some xplanation.
Regards,
Simple - Dell infest your hard drive with a shitload of bloatware that you don’t need. If you’re happy to live with that then you’re probably better off sticking with the default build.
As I’ve said a few times since the initial post my M1330 is now only running Ubuntu Hard Ass Heron and is a lot better for it - this notebook is too good for M$.
Hi Daryl,
I want to wipe my M1330 and just run Ubuntu (Hardy) - no Vista, no XP, no mediadirect.
However, I’ve heard reports that pressing the mediadirect button can corrupt the MBR if the mediadirect partition is not present. How have you avoided this situation (if you have)? What’s the best way to set up a nice and simple Ubuntu installation?
Thanks,
Roy
Hi Roy
I hadn’t heard this but then again I haven’t pressed the media direct button since I installed Ubuntu only so maybe it’s not a real problem as such? I just did a standard install wiping the entire drive and have not had any issues since, runs like a dream.
Of course now you have brought my attention to the fact my M1330 has a self destruct button it is flashing ‘push me, push me’…. thanks for that!!
If you do find a solution please let us know as I don’t know how much longer I can resist the urge!!
cheers
Daryl
Hi Daryl,
Just got my Dell XPS m1530, and directly started with your tutorial. It worked flawlessly. Many kudos. Thanks again.
Roel Peeters
Hi Daryl,
Thanks for the reply, what about lo-jack ? My reason not to remove vista, is just to keep lo-jack activated on it.
What do you suggest ???
Thanx loll.. that works great.. even if im not done with installation process im sure there will not be any problem..
Great write-up.
Am thinking of getting a XPS wit the 128GB Solid State Drive for Ubuntu only with MD (or XP) in a Virtual Drive - think it would work?
I bet that SS Drive w/ Linux only would scream.
Great help, I used it to install kubuntu, and the only difference was at the beginning, as from the kubuntu disc I couldn’t get the Gnome Partition Editor.
Thanks!
New Dell XPS M1330, New Ubuntu 8.10 install
Hello Darryl.mu,
My story is very similar. Got my new XPS M1330. Love the Dell. Hate the
Vista!!
I completely erased vista and install Ubuntu 8.10. Love it. I need some
help with Dell, Linux based drivers. Everything works perfect except
my DVD/CD driver. Do you have any Dell, Linux , drivers sites??
emailed me Bro_
I followed everything exactly, but I can’t get at the /home partition from vista.
I see the “Z:” drive, but Vista says something like “The drive needs to be formatted. Format Now?” Please help
thank you… thank you.. thank you very much… thanks bro.. great help
Thanks for the guide quick easy and painless
(well if you consider installing Vista painless)
Hi,
Just thought I’d share my experiences with setting up triple boot (Ubuntu/Vista/MD) on my XPS M1330…
I read this, but playing around with gparted off a Live CD I realised that maybe I could just resize the Vista partition down a bit so that I could install Ubuntu into the gap without having to also reinstall Media Direct and Vista. Plus I’d get to keep the Dell recovery partition.
Disaster. Utter disaster. After some fiddling I had the hard drive partitioned as I wanted and so I applied the changes and rebooted. Media Direct worked once, but after that any attempt to boot into Vista or Media Direct made it boot into Media Direct and it would crash a short while later with a blue screen. When I tried to boot into a Bart PE to restore an image of the hard drive it also blue screened (?!). Finally I went back to the Ubuntu Live CD and re-ran gparted, which told me that the hard drive was completely unformatted and didn’t even have a partition table. Hmmm.
Now I’m recreating the partition table and following the method you describe. So far so good - the Dell Drivers and Utilities CD is a tedious beast to use though!
Anyway, thanks for putting this write up online
Christo