Installing Debian GNU/Linux on a Dell Inspiron 8600

Full description of process available in French
You should visit TuxMobil for full explanations in English.

How-to use a Dell TrueMobile 1300 WiFi card work under Linux using ndiswrapper

This card works well under Linux (including 128 bits WEP encryption), thanks to the ndiswrapper driver loader, which allows use of Windows drivers under Linux. At first I copied the bcmwl5.sys and bcmwl5.inf files, from my Windows partition. Ndiswrapper's README file explains well how to compile and install the module in the kernel. You should refer to it for this step. If you encounter problems during installation, refer to ndiswrapper's FAQ. You will then need to add the WiFi interface (generally wlan0) in /etc/network/interfaces. Theoretically, ifup wlan0 should activate the WiFi card et associate with the access point, but it doesn't work on my computer (I don't know if I did a configuration mistake, or if there is a bug in ndiswrapper or ifup). I so have to execute the following commands to activate it (in this order, it won't work otherwise):

iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed
iwconfig wlan0 key restricted XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XX

You must of course use the appropriate values for your network. You should also add these commands in a startup script, to automate the process. I actually use ndiswrapper version 0.7. The method I describe may work with a later version.
I advise you to install the ifplugd daemon, which activates and deactivates network interfaces dynamically. I also recommend you wavemon, to monitor the state of the WiFi link.

How-to use an EMSUSB2 PlayStation to PC joypad converter under Linux 2.6

That's very easy! Just add modules "usb-hid", "joydev" and "evdev" to your kernel.