STEVE'S FILE SPLITTER v. 1.2 1999, by Steve D. Perkins DESCRIPTION My file splitter application is a neat and simple little app I put together over time to fill two needs. I wanted to learn more about the Tcl/Tk programming language for use in graphical-application programming... and I got sick and tired of the old DOS-based splitter program I used up at the office when I needed to transfer a file too big for a floppy between two computers. The command-line syntax was terribly non-intuitive (I kept having to explain to my co-workers over and over again how to use it), and you had to also have the same program on the other machine to put the split chunks back together again after transferring them. Therefore, in typical programmer's fashion... I set about learning an entirely new language from scratch and putting a ton of hours into a project, in order to have a tool that might "make my life more simple"! I have tried to make this app as intuitive and user-friendly as possible. There are only three fields of input: "Input file": The file that you would like split up. This program does not alter this original file in any way. "Size of output chunks": The number of bytes per "chunk" that you would like the file split into. If you check-mark the '3.5" Floppy Size' box, the chunks will be automatically sized for floppy disks... otherwise you can check-mark the 'Custom' box and type in a size manually (must be between 10,000 and 999,999,999 bytes). "Path and basename for output files": Select a path (i.e. 'c:\windows\desktop') that you would like the output chunks saved to, as well as a basename for the chunks. For example, if you click the browse button, select the Desktop, and type in 'output' in the 'Save As...' line... the app will create files on your desktop titled 'output.1', 'output.2', etc. An additional file will also be created called 'rejoin.bat'. If you also copy this file over to the other computer and dump it in the same directory as the file chunks... clicking on this file will splice the file chunks back into the original file's form. Is does this using a seldom-used option in the DOS internal command 'copy'... which means that you DO NOT have to have the file splitter program also installed on the other machine. It also means that the files can be merged back together on any machine... running Windows NT all the way down to the old versions of DOS. I hope you enjoy and find some use for this program... I always welcome any feedback, suggestions, and complaints... at 'steve@steveperkins.net'. KNOWN ISSUES - File Splitter does a good job at being "smart" in regards to long filenames... that is to say that if your input file and/or the basename you choose for the output chunks contain long filenames (either spaces in the name, or a length exceeding the old DOS '8.3' format), it will enclose those names in quote marks when writing 'rejoin.bat' so that the files will be merged back into the proper name. However, if you split a file on a Windows 9x/NT machine, and then rejoin them on a DOS machine... the older DOS version of copy will not know what to do about the quote marks, and will throw out an error. If you split a long-filenamed file on a 32-bit system and then rejoin it under 16-bit DOS, you have to manually edit 'rejoin.bat' and remove the quote marks from around the file name(s). FUTURE PLANS - Make the program compatible with a soon-to-come Linux port... so that each version will give the user the option to make the output compatible to be re-joined on either a Windows-based or Linux-based system. - Give the user the option to copy each output chunk to floppy as it's being written, rather than having to store all the chunks to a hard drive location all at once and then copy to floppy later. - Make the "Size of output chunks" box ignore commas in the number of bytes entered (I just KNOW that this is going to be a problem for some people!) VERSION HISTORY - 0.1: Bare-bones prototype... no GUI. All file I/O performed one byte at a time.... very slowly. Size of output chunks was a fixed constant, and it didn't yet create a 'rejoin.bat' batch file. - 0.1-prerelease-1: Added functionality to create the rejoining batch file. - 0.1: Buffered file I/O to read and write 1,000 bytes at a time, GREATLY boosting performance. - 0.5: Switched to Visual Tcl for development, plugged the core code into a graphical-user-interface. - 0.6: Added a 'Help' button with instructions for using the program. Took photo of myself from the main screen and tucked it out of the way on the 'About' window... so it wouldn't be TOO obnoxious! <smile> - 0.7: FINALLY killed the bug that was causing the program to stay resident in memory when you close out the main window rather than use the "exit" button. - 0.8: Changed the background to be in better-looking color, and added a logo image instead of a plain-text title. - 1.0-prerelease-1: Changed the graphic images to appear on label widgets instead of buttons (duh!). Added error message windows to appear when the user selects an invalid input file, output basename, or chunk size. Increased the file I/O buffer to 10,000 bytes, which seems to be the most efficient size. - 1.0: Made the program 'smart' with regards to long filenames when creating the rejoining batch file. - 1.1: Created a check-mark box option to automatically size output chunks for floppy disks, as well as the old option for manually selecting the size. Created a confirmation window that pops-up when the splitting is complete. Improved help screen for instructions. Compiled with FreeWrap v. 3.2 (1.0 was compiled with FreeWrap 3.1). - 1.2: Bug fixes. Corrected abnormalities where windows did not take the foreground. Compiled with FreeWrap 3.3 (uses tcl/tk 8.2 instead of 8.1). DISCLAIMER AND LICENSE This program is provided exactly as-is... with no warranty or support of any kind whatsoever. Use entirely at your own risk. This program is "freeware"... it may be distributed in binary-form so long as you don't charge for it (other than nominal media/shipping costs). I make the source code available on my web site (http://www.steveperkins.net/applications), which you may explore for educational purposes and/or modify for personal use... but not re-distribute in any modified form. I MIGHT go ahead and open up the source to future versions fully under the GPL or similiar copyleft terms down the road, if I get alot of feedback from developers that have great ideas for exhancements to it (frankly, right now I don't really feel that it's THAT large of a project! <smile>)Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.