Using dd with shell()

[Jim Witte]

Hi,

   I've got this script that reads from a device with the shell command 
dd:

on mouseup
   put "/Users/jswitte/NewtText.txt" into fName
   ask "Count?" with "4"
   put it into countNum
   --get shell("dd if=/dev/rdisk1 of=/Users/jswitte/NewtText.txt 
count=1")
   get shell("dd if=/dev/rdisk1 of=" & fName && "count=" & countNum)
   if the result is not empty then
     answer the result
   else
     open file fname
     read from file fname until EOF
     put it into fld "rtext"
     answer the length of it
     close file fname
   end if
end mouseup

   The funny thing is, when I enter 87 for count, the text put in the 
field iis *shorter* than when I put in 86!  The lengths reported make 
sense though (87 is 44544, 86 is 44032).

   Also (though this is more a unix-y question that Rev), is there any 
way for dd to report progress and have this come back to Rev for a 
progress gaguge?

Thanks,
Jim