Performing a BIOS Update for a DELL workstation under Linux

If like many folks, you have switched your main OS to Ubuntu or some other Linux distro, you will find that performing a BIOS update is not as simple as it used to be. Or maybe, not as familiar, but still rather simple once you figure out how to do it...

Context: Dell Laptop running Ubuntu 9.04
Step 1: download the bios from support.dell.com

Step 2: install the wine firmware addon for DELL
$ sudo apt-get install wine firmware-addon-dell

Step 3: convert the bios update from a .exe to .hdr
$ wine /path_to_file/name_of_bios_file.exe -writehdrfile -nopause

Step 4: install modprobe
$ sudo modprobe dell_rbu

Step 5: perform the BIOS update
$ sudo dellBiosUpdate -u -f 1521_Bios.hdr

voila!