[ubuntu-uk] Novatech - Ubuntu good news?

[alan c]

With a current thread I have seen about laptop buying in mind, I
called in to Novatech Reading on my travels. I spoke to the Manager
Alex Burrows.  I had discussed Ubuntu etc with him on a previous
occasion or two over the years and received agreement in principle to
try out Ubuntu on specific kit by arrangement (at non busy times).

This time I was happily surprised to find that if I (or anyone else)
wanted to try Ubuntu on any particular product  then he had it already
on a USB stick ('firestick' was the term he used). I mentioned the
larger range of laptops available at the Portsmouth store - there were
6 laptops on display at Reading but a lot more on the web site
(Portsmouth, I guess). Alex then added that the (Area/store) Manager
at the Portsmouth store (John Leslie) would be also happy to fire up
Ubuntu, again, preferably by pre arrangement for non busy times.

Alex thought that most kit would work ok with Ubuntu although the most
obvious reservation he had was about any internal 3G cards, which he
thought might not always work.

He knew of a number of customers who used various Linux based OSs.

What I realised in this conversation was that for the first time in my
contact with Novatech, they seemed to have a basic 'procedure' with
which to deal with Ubuntu. I like this, and they had a USB stick with
Ubuntu, specifically for testing.

I still think it might be useful to take along your own (Ubuntu)
version because Alex seemed to have a lot of confidence that even if
earlier Ubuntu versions worked, then later versions would also work.
This has not -always- been my own experience though.

Alex gave me contact details for himself and John Leslie:
alex.burrows at novatech.co.uk (0118 966 4087)
john.leslie at novatech.co.uk

-- 
alan cocks
Ubuntu user