How to upgrade Dell Latitude laptop BIOS using Ubuntu 8.04 Linux (Hardy Heron)
This should work with any Dell Latitude laptop but YMMV.
wget -q -O – http://linux.dell.com/repo/firmware/bootstrap.cgi > dell_bootstrap.sh
sudo bash dell_bootstrap.sh
sudo aptitude install firmware-addon-dell firmware-tools
sudo aptitude install $(sudo bootstrap_firmware -a)
sudo update_firmware –yes
sudo bash dell_bootstrap.sh
sudo aptitude install firmware-addon-dell firmware-tools
sudo aptitude install $(sudo bootstrap_firmware -a)
sudo update_firmware –yes
After upgrading the BIOS, you will need to perform a warm reboot (System -> Quit -> Restart). You don’t need to boot into Windows to upgrade the BIOS 
[...] – bookmarked by 1 members originally found by RyanLeslieTV on July 18, 2008 How to upgrade Dell Latitude laptop BIOS using Ubuntu 8.04 Linux (Hardy Heron) [...]
Neat!
Where did you find this information?
Will this work on any Dell (servers included) or just Latitudes?
I got it from Dell TechSupport. It should work with any Dell PC.
I would imagine that servers would be included but am not certain.
This currently does not work with Ubuntu 9.10. Let’s hope Dell updates their repository soon.