Problem ordering the distribution

[forsyth@plan9.cs.york.ac.uk forsyth@plan9.cs.york.ac.uk]

>>I would be interested if anyone knows of a UK distributer who
>>has it available ex-stock.

i suspect you are unlikely to find it in stock in this country.
try
	http://www.amazon.com
i haven't yet had anything i needed to order from them, but john mashey
recommended it in comp.arch earlier this year and i had a look at it: quite
impressive.  there are some peculiar cross references and reviews on the page for the operating system
Plan 9 (there are several other pages for books and things related to the film).
it is down there as `special order' but i have a feeling you might find them more efficient.
HBJ here have always been fairly hopeless.  the people who answer the phones
are very nice, but the more highly-paid sales staff have always been out to lunch
(in every sense) when i've tried to deal with them.  it's a mystery to me
how they make money.  perhaps a competitor pays them not to sell things.
that would explain all those Linux and Java books i suppose.  but i digress ...
i'd give amazon a go.

by the way, if you order the kit with just the books, remember to complain and
ask for money back from customs (often this is done via the courier) if they charge
duty and VAT on the books themselves since they are duty and VAT free.
you'll pay duty and VAT on the Fedex charges, though.  the kit that includes the
software tends to get the full duty and VAT treatment since it's a composite item
and they'll charge on the full thing since they've got no way of separating the
CD cost (on which you pay duty and VAT) from the books (on which you wouldn't).
that's reflected in the HBJ price you quoted (and they obviously include a few
lunches as well).

someone here managed to fight his way through to Harcourt Brace in the US
and got them Fedex'd to him quickly.  i believe he mentioned that he needed
them urgently for a student project (that was true, but you could make something up:
a gift for Craig Shergold, for instance).  i also got a book kit and a CDROM kit
from HB in Florida, but that was before it was on their lists here.
(by CDROM kit i meant the full kit with books and CDROM.)