Date:         Thu, 1 Oct 92 16:06:59 EDT
From:         "Paul J. Bodin" <pjb3@CUNIXB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
Subject:      Re: large files into smaller ones
Comments: To: Nota Bene List <NOTABENE%TAUNIVM@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.notabene

A recent posting to this list said:

> Perhaps a quick question while waiting for mail to arrive [I am fifteen
> minutes by subway from NBI and not holding my breath].
>
>   Both NB and DOS have methods of combining small files into larger ones,
> but I have yet to find an easy way to break up a large file into smaller
> ones.  In particular I have a 1M file that I would like to break into
> four, more or less equally sized files of about 250K.  "PRINTD" doesn't
> work: all those formatting codes.  And the "copy" command doesn't allow
> specifying pages numbers.
>
>   Any thoughts.  A couple of weeks ago I faxed Rebecca Bennett this same
> request, but she has obviously been too busy typing mailing lables to
> reply.

I find myself a bit nettled by this message, and some of the other
sniping that has occurred recently on this list.  I, too, am quite
tired of waiting for NB4, and have had my share of difficulty
communicating with NBI.  They are obviously having their own problems.
Casting personal aspersions, however, does not help the matter.

Especially in this case, where the answer (as far as NB is able to
take it) can be easily found by recourse to the manual where the
matter is detailed on page A4-28, it is a bit small minded to belittle
one of the most helpful of NBI's staff because she didn't drop
everything and reply to the question.  During my (brief) tour of duty
at the erstwhile Dragonfly she was usually the first person to arrive
in the morning (I know--I was at that time usually the second to
arrive).  Until the nature of the work I was doing for DF allowed me
to retire to my own desk and computer, Rebecca was one of the bright
spots in an often hectic day.  She was always still there when I left
for the day.  Recently I have personal knowledge of several occasions
upon which she stayed long after business hours, when the rest of the
staff had left and the mailing frenzy had ceased for the day, so that
she could answer the most urgent help requests by telephone.  At one
point she called me at 9:00 PM from the office to ask me a question
about OS/2 so she could forward the information to another user who
was having system problems.  Perhaps the reader will see why I am
stung to reply to this little jape...

I am glad that several list regulars have provided helpful information
in response to this request--but I remain irked by the manner in which
it was posed and the assumptions that it reveals.  This list is a good
place to grouse and to share our impatience with the state of affairs
in which we find ourselves.  Letting off steam can make the wait a bit
more tolerable.  Can we not refrain from this kind of personal
disparagement, though?

___________________________________________________________________________
Paul J. Bodin                         Internet: pjb3@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu
Union Theological Seminary               smail: 435-52nd Street
(718) 439-3549                                  Brooklyn, NY 11220
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU