It doesn't work like that. Despite the myths that you can get GNU/Linux to
run on just about anything it simply isn't true. It relies on the companies
designing the chipsets to release code and/or specifications so that free
drivers can be developed. Otherwise you are at the mercy of these companies.
The reason GNU/Linux has support for more devices than MS Windows is because
of free software. It allows devices that would never be supported on current
versions of MS Windows (due to discontinuation) to continue working on
GNU/Linux.
Manufacturers generally don't own the code for the devices they sell unless
they are also the company which designed the chipset(s) in said device.
In the case of Dell I can't think of a single product that Dell really
designed or for that matter really manufactured. However they have some level
of control over outer appearances and configuration.
Dell is hostile to free software and locks (configures) its computers so that
only the wifi cards it sells will work. After market sales of parts is big
business.
In this case Dell is shipping you a card that will not work with free
software and won't let you change this card for one that will. The company
(Intel) which designed the chipset is not cooperating with the release of
code or specs so that a free driver/firmware solution can be released. That
means it will only work on distributions that contain non-free software for
as long as Intel is willing to "support" it. Now technically you can stick to
a 1998 version of the firmware and still use it probably or even in a worse
case example a 1998 version of GNU/Linux this isn't acceptable behavior. Its
turning GNU/Linux into Microsoft Windows, Mac, or another proprietary
product.
In the case of this particular chipset/card it would require a massive
reverse engineering project to fix the problem without the support of Intel.
There is no chance of that happening.
The only good solution is to be picky about the hardware you buy and support
companies / products that are free software friendly. That is extremely hard
to do right now. A company I founded, ThinkPenguin, and a handful of others
would qualify as being very good about supporting free software. Most others
only have categories for which they can be commended for cooperating. As an
example HP does an excellent job for the most part in at least documenting
and releasing sufficient code for a good chunk of its printers. Atheros is
another good example. Atheros designs all sorts of chipsets. Some of these
are 802.11 chipsets and for this category they have done an excelent job.
However the company has not done a perfect job as there are other categories
which are not free software friendly. Even within wireless arena they haven't
released code / specs for a usb bluetooth chipset. That might change although
its a work in progress as a different department within the company needs to
cooperate with such a project.
In any case the only half-solution thats probably going to work for you is to
pick up a free software USB wireless card. Dell, HP, Lenovo/IBM, and Toshiba
are the worst offenders of hardware locking.
And-yes ThinkPenguin sell laptops... without the locks and even without
"trusted computing" technology in the CPUs (at least for now- unfortunately
its only going to be possible for as long as there are CPUs available without
it and replacing x86 is just not a realistic short term goal).
