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From: Judy Zappacosta on 6 Jul 2010 09:58
On Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:53:21 +0800, Man-wai Chang wrote:
> Why didn't you question Micro$oft's operating systems?

Again, you have good questions.

Personally, I HATE the MS Operating system; but it's what I use mostly.

I do question MS operating systems. For example, I never install ANYTHING
in "Program Files"; I never place any documents into "My Documents"; I
never use "C:\TEMP"; I never use "Start -> Programs", etc.

Why you might ask?

Because MS (and plenty of dumb programs) fill these directories so full of
junk that you can never tell YOUR files from the myriad of other files that
you don't care about.

So, I create my own menus (and bring in only what I want and need); I
create my own installation hierarchy (and install only what I want
installed); I have my own documents and temporary hierarchies, and place in
there just what is mine (and that which I wish to back up).

So, in the end, I don't LIKE the MS Operating system, and I think only a
dumbie would place anything in the "standard" MS hierarchies; but I use the
MS operating system just as I might use PDFSam even though I don't like
some of the decisions they made (like forcing me to install Java bloat just
to run the program).

It's still interesting why Java is phoning home to Italy! :)
From: Judy Zappacosta on 6 Jul 2010 11:11
On Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:26:15 +0800, Man-wai Chang wrote:
> You hate it, but you still trust it?
> Or was it because NObody got a choice? :)

I never said I "trusted" it. :)

I have a freeware anti-virus, a freeware firewall, a freeware startup
monitor, a huge hosts file, ad blockers galore, anti-spyware checkers,
ccleaner cleanup programs that wipe free space upon reboot, I run freeware
programs to change my MAC address daily, they change my hostid daily, they
even change my machine name daily, I use privoxy and vidalia freeware TORs
when I need to, I obfuscate who I am when I want to, I use WPA2-PSK
encryption, I wipe slack space monthly with PGP freeware, hide sensitive
files with Truecrypt freeware, etc.

Anyway, back to PDFsam freeware. I'd give it a thumbs-OK so far. It's a
thumbs-up if my favorite forums can handle 1043 Kbytes; otherwise just a
thumbs-ok.
From: Caesar Romano on 6 Jul 2010 11:46
On Tue, 6 Jul 2010 13:51:46 +0000 (UTC), Judy Zappacosta
<zappajNOSPAM(a)Use-Author-Supplied-Address.invalid> wrote Re Re:
Freeware to break a PDF into sequential 1000K files for forum
postings?:

>Summary:
>Nice program. Not as bad as many others for download and setup. Has a java
>requirement that is unfortunate. Is not at first untuitive but ends up
>being easy enough to use. Is fast enough. Is usable but the ability to
>select your own specific file size is lacking.

Thanks for the summary.
--
Work is the curse of the drinking class.
From: wasbit on 6 Jul 2010 11:48
"Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
news:i0v7u6$ddv$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...

> Then you should seriously consider using Google Docs! Micro$oft Office is
> heading the same direction!
>

I wouldn't recommend Google Docs based on my experience with them.

Regards wasbit

From: Judy Zappacosta on 6 Jul 2010 12:36
On Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:46:41 -0500, Caesar Romano wrote:
> Thanks for the summary.

I'm always glad to give back where I was helped!

In a real-world test of a 4,501KB 327 page PDF, I learned some startling
things about PDF split and merge (almost none of which are good things).

The main thing I learned is that it's file-size split is wholly ARBITRARY!
It does NOT adhere to what you ask for (which makes it much harder to use
when you really care about the resulting file size).

Real-world TEST #1:
0. Started with 4,501 KB 327 page PDF
1. Told PDFsam to split into 1MB files
2. Result was 5 files of the following names & sizes:
- 1_filename.pdf 1,030 KB
- 155_filename.pdf 1,039 KB
- 270_filename.pdf 1,049 KB
- 274_filename.pdf 1,275 KB
- 276_filename.pdf 483 KB
3. Tried to upload to forum, and only the 483 KB file uploaded; the rest
had a message that 1,000 KB was the absolute limit.

Real-world (startling) TEST #2:
0. Started with 4,501 KB 327 page PDF
1. Told PDFsam to split into 900 KB files
2. Result was 5 files of the following names & sizes:
- 1_filename.pdf 906 KB
- 132_filename.pdf 907 KB
- 266_filename.pdf 1,305 KB
- 274_filename.pdf 1,275 KB
- 276_filename.pdf 483 KB
3. Notice the desire for 900 KB was only a suggestion to the tool! :(

Interesting that it tried for the first two files, but then essentially
gave up and did nothing different than the prior test for at least one
file.

BTW, the program takes only about 10 seconds to create these files so at
least that allows experimentation of the optimal file size request.
The good news is that test

Real-world (still failed) TEST #3 resulted in 6 files, only 1 of which was
too large:
0. Started with 4,501 KB 327 page PDF
1. Told PDFsam to split into 800 kb files
2. Result was 6 files of the following names & sizes:
- 1_filename.pdf 814 KB
- 115_filename.pdf 806 KB
- 231_filename.pdf 968 KB
- 273_filename.pdf 1,015 KB
- 275_filename.pdf 900 KB
- 277_filename.pdf 478 KB

Real-world (surprisingly, still failed) test #4 resulted in 6 files,
surprisingly, TWO of which were over the 1,000 KB limit!
0. Started with 4,501 KB 327 page PDF
1. Told PDFsam to split into 750 kb files
2. Result was 6 files of the following names & sizes:
- 1_filename.pdf 755 KB
- 107_filename.pdf 751 KB
- 211_filename.pdf 1,080 KB
- 273_filename.pdf 1,015 KB
- 275_filename.pdf 900 KB
- 277_filename.pdf 478 KB
Notice the last few files were all the same size; so we can see that the
"algorithm" used for the PDF split is taking shortcuts which are killing us
here.

TEST #5 (still failed; the algorithm is clearly bad after the third file):
0. Started with 4,501 KB 327 page PDF
1. Told PDFsam to split into 700 kb files
2. Result was 6 files of the following names & sizes:
- 1_filename.pdf 701 KB
- 97_filename.pdf 708 KB
- 194_filename.pdf 764 KB
- 270_filename.pdf 1,049 KB
- 274_filename.pdf 1,275 KB
- 276_filename.pdf 483 KB

By now, I'm thinking this is as much work as breaking down the PDF manually
in Adobe Acrobat. But, PDF Split & Merge is so fast, I simply need to find
the right setting. But, BTW, they should NEVER say "Split at this size";
they should more properly say "Split at this size plus or minus 25%"!



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