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Khawaga Album Legacy

If you mainly use MAC or some *NIX system, you'll find most of this information inadequate. Even though I started with an Apple II computer - a tribute to this can be found with my 404 Page - and quite often have been working with Macs in job situations, my pile of software depends on MS Windows. I have seriously tried converting to Linux, and as for internet use it suits me well, but open source software has a significant lack of ability in grafical production. But still, you may read this, I hope. ME devoting my time writing this ... YOU scumming it. Deal?

KHAWAGA ALBUM has been out there somewhere for bloody ages, compared to the average lifetime of a "normal" webpage. It's a restless bastard. It's been hosted by several webhosts through these years, often for free. No such service still exists. Now it's come home at last, as I decided to merge it with my norwegian bulletin board on khawaga.com as the "Busker's Songbook" division. For many years it was very rarely updated. In 2001 I added the "Technical Stuff" section. In 2007 I quoted paragraph by paragraph and updated them. And already NOW, only *11* years later, I have to adjust it! Time sure passes by ...

QUOTE 11th SEPT 2001

KHAWAGA ALBUM is made with plain text generator. It sticks to the HTML3-standard, and contains no script that should cause problems with any net browser. If you face any strange behaviour, please mailback.

QUOTE 1st AUG 2007

I still use plain text generator solely, but I've found powerful substitutions for the poor notepad. Right now I'm in love with CONTEXT, after a short and acute combat with EMACS and a couple of similar complicated bloatware. Nowadays I stick to (X)HTML 1.0, basing all layout and design on CSS2 and the box-model. At its birth, KHAWAGA ALBUM was some masterpiece of intricated tablework, salted with single pixel cols and rows, penetrated with spacers and drenched with font- and centertags. Already at the time I wrote the 2001-stuff, I was about to hunt and kill those varmints. Now they're completely exterminated.

I left XHTML as soon as HTML5 were accepted by the most common browsers. XHTML was a blind alley. And that CONTEXT editor was revealed to fuck up UTF-8. The project was discontinued before 2010 due to the developer's lack of license for Borland Delphi's newer editions. For Windows I use Notepad++, for Linux gVIM and for Mac nothing. I regard Mac-users as weirdoes.

QUOTE 11th SEPT 2001

The clever application "Arachnophilia" is frequently used to save time, for instance in substituting picture files and href's. This tiny and informative application I recommand to people wanting to build their own pages without being familiar with the basics, and instead of using any "WYSIWYG" ("What You See Is What You Get"). Those bastards will take you into conflicts between different net browsers. It's availible for free, courtesy of PAUL LUTUS, an intelligent programmer with a special attitude. Put on blinkers not to acquire his inclination to MS Internet Explorer ... ARACHNOID: Home of the Arachnophilia

QUOTE 1st AUG 2007

Paul Lutus is still alive and kicking, I still regularily visit his HOMEPAGE. Almost exactly 10 years older than me, he loaded this in 1996, approximatly at the time I discovered HTML by accident using his software unintentionally. Lutus is namely also the author of Apple Writer, and the creepy mouse dropped an unwanted "html"-file on that icon instead of the bin - voilá! I'm not so very fond of Arachnophilia any longer; it's been rewritten in Java and behaves rather strange. Besides, I don't need it. Actually I never did. But I share Lutus' opinion of the Microsoft World - for Heaven's sake, read his BOYCOTT article. With his permission, I translated the predecessor into norwegian, and I'm about to do the same now.

Cockroaches will survive a nuclear war, as well as Keith Richards and Paul Lutus. He's still up and go, and that Arachnophilia is still strange. Who cares? In this bloggin' world only nerds and oldtimers build websites. That article was never translated, because MS changed their strategy from conquering the internet to occupation of the cloud.

QUOTE 11th SEPT 2001

Pictures are briefly treated with Adobe Photoshop 3.0. But this good old application can't handle GIF version 89a, so for transparence and animated picts I assist it with Paint Shop Pro 6.0, a powerful and cheap shareware application. The tools are a bit clumsy, but the possibilities are quite similar to the latest versions of Adobe Photoshop, and at a very favorable price. JASC INC

QUOTE 1st AUG 2007

Chucle, that old PS3 still runs on my veteran PC from 1994, and it still performs daily tasks. It serves my scanner, which SCSIcard doesn't fit a modern motherboard. And modern scanners doesn't fit neighter me nor my wallet ... thus, I still rely on this Pentium 110 based machine, to take the best out of my excellent A3 flatbed. Those devices, and this solid software, has so far performed more than sufficient daily tasks for more than 13 years. Beat that with your monthly upgrades!
I admit that PS3 is a little bit ... retarded? I'm up to version 6, and I'm going to stay there. I don't accept Adobes' licensing conditions, just like I do not accept Microsofts. I'm not a very advanced neighter artist nor consumer of artwork, and what PS6 cannot perform, open source applications like GIMP will. I'd also like to share this one with you: IRFANVIEW is an intelligent freeware for most purposes. I use it daily. Why start that PS-monster only to treat pictures? #¤%§ Adobe and all #¤%§ing bloatware from #¤%§ing greedy companies, and #¤%§ their unnecessary, unwanted "required" upgrades!

That veteran PC and scanner was lost in a fire accident, but were stored away years before it happened. I got me an USB scanner, of course, as prices grew sane. I still use PS6 now and then: see next section.

QUOTE 11th SEPT 2001

Some graphical effects come from Corel Draw Versions 4 and 6. Paint Shop Pro could have performed even those, but I've gotten used to Corel. If you want a graphical application able to do whatever you wish - and got some money to spend - support this company. They are an institution in graphical design, ended up in economical trouble and need you as a customer. You won't be disappointed.

QUOTE 1st AUG 2007

The year after I wrote this, I got the Corel8 Graphical Suit, and I still use it where I can. The succeeders are far from version 8 in simplicity, efficiency and user-friendliness. In addition to Corel 10 and 12, I brought my Illustrator up to CS level, to solve the compatibility problems regarding EPS and PDF-files from consciousless artworkers. Never got less for such an investment. I might as well use the INKSCAPE, which is absolutely free like the GIMP, and clever with a few exceptions within the range of file format compatibility and tool arrangement. Recommended!

Both Adobe and Corel software are now only available by *renting* them, not *buying* a license, and you have to be connected to the net to use them. This is exploitation.
I still use my licensed PS6 and Draw12. They serve me well, on OS < Win10. And the heck I want to move beyond Win7. About Inkscape and Gimp, they both have improved, and both will import newer files from that bloated cloudware. But there has been one major change in my habits: of French origin, XnView entered the scene in 2005, and the popularity rapidly grew. A clone of ACDSee, free for non-commercial use, it was originally only a picture browser, but is now almost a professional image editor. It still hasn't possibility for drawing and handling layers, but I bet it will come. The XnViewMP works on Lin/Win/Mac, and is even portable. Go for it HERE. Sorry, Irfan Skiljan: you're only second choise now.

QUOTE 11th SEPT 2001

You are probably using Microsoft Internet Explorer. Most people do, because everybody does, thanks to Microsoft's aggressive marketing department and their disputed ways of integrating the browser with the operating system. There are better ones: "Netscape Communicator" from version 4.5 and "Opera" from version 3.6 give you undoubtfully better net performance. Ever since December 2000, "Opera 5.0" has been released for free in supported mode, and the banner you have to live with will cause less irritation than IExplore's proprietary behaviour. Also, "Opera" will occupy less than 10 Mb (loaded without Java it's down to floppy size) and give you maximum convenience.

QUOTE 1st AUG 2007

I think we can forget about Netscape :-D version 6 had a 10 minute visit on my network some years ago, and I didn't even keep the CD it came from. Right now, Opera has released stable 9.2, and Mozilla the Firefox 2.0. These are the only net browsers completely regardless of OS platforms, and both are splendid. Your choise depends on your needs and taste. In addition, apples have the modern and standard-compliant Safari, and penguins' got the incredible Konqueror. IE 7? It took Microsoft more that 6 years to reinvent the wheel, and make it square.

Nowadays, it doesn't matter what browser you use. It all depends on who you want to be tracked by. What some call "private tabs/windows" is an illution. All your browsing data are destined servers controlled by either MS, Google or Apple. Maybe with the exception of Firefox, but that Mozilla creature is dumbfounding hard to deal with.
The company and browser OPERA is a tragedy. After the birth of Internet, norwegian web supplier Televerket (later Telenor) started a project building a new web browser. They lost interest, and two central persons in the project took the codes with them to form a new company. The result was "Opera", based on the kernel "Presto" and later on the java-script engine "Carakan", and totally different from Netscape and IE. It was standard-compliant to W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) unlike IE, user-friendly unlike Netscape and tiny, unlike both. It included features never seen in other browsers, and gained reputation as "webdesigners favorite". It stayed that way until version 12, 2012. By then, the founder Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner lost majority in the management. The company had grown too large, and profit had become first priority, not making a good product. His founding partner Geir Ivarsøy died in 2006, and he was the head of Presto. Jon quit as both stockholder and as a part of the management. Then the road was wide open: Opera dropped "Presto" and became chromium. They fired a lot of programmers, then sold out most of the company to China. Thank you very much. That's the way it goes; everybody knows.
I believe Jon could have taken the "Presto" with him, but he decided to go WebKit as well. He started up the Vivaldi-project, brought many programmers with him from Opera, but landed on tha same kernel as Opera did. And this is interesting: WebKit is the mother code of Chrome, Opera, Vivaldi and Safari ... even Konqueror, the native file manager and internet browser for Linux. Norwegian programmer Lars Knoll was important writing the KHTML-browser, which was the pilar for WebKit. Norwegians rule ...!
I use Vivaldi most of the time. I haven't seen a MS browser for many years. That "Edge" flopped. Users of Win10 prefer IE instead, or a common browser like Chrome and Firefox. And after all these lines: I don't care. As long as they stick to the W3C rules.

QUOTE 11th SEPT 2001

Afraid of viruses, trojan horses, macro viruses and worms? Don't really want to spend money on protection, cause you think you have full control? OK, if you really know what you're doing, no damage should be done to your computer by accident. But if you're broadband, they may get you anyway, especially if you're using MS Outlook or MS Outloook Express. "Computer Associates" offers you free personal Anti-Virus Protection. They upgrade every month at least, and give you a warning when you have to download new dat-files. Recommended from: COMPUTER ASSOCIATES INC

QUOTE 1st AUG 2007

Computer Associates ran themselves out of business. They thought they had catched enough users, to make the service rentable. They were wrong. After they discarded the common license agreement and changed both name, program and general attitude, people abandoned and were scattered like dry leaves. This leaf fell down on the Chec company Grisoft. For almost seven years, they have sheltered me for free. This favour has resulted in buying a license for my company, which was stuck with Norman Defense, and a few licenses from other companies, whom I'm involved with ... and very often been a consultant in security matters ... and God knows the time I've spent picking out Norton/Symantec creeps with a pincer.
A reliable Windows System allows only *one* anti-virus running at a time. This doesn't prevent other programs to be installed; they simply have not to be resident. Install Avast in addition, and tell it to work when you need to doublecheck a downloaded file. Here's where you go for it: AVGAvast. In addition you'll need a firewall better than the poor in-buildt MS-one. ZoneAlarm gives you the best. It stops anything you want, and in fact - especially with the "pro" version (sorry, not for free but rather cheap) - Zone Alarm acts and works like a proxy. Get it!

Only ZoneAlarm is left on my Windows system. I altered between AVG and Avast for years, and got more and more annoyed by their freaking wish to rule my PC behaviour, and finally kicked them out. Also the constant requests for upgrading and buying full versions made me furious; several times they perished my work, lurking in the background. I don't touch fishy sites, files and links, and anyway I hardly use Windows on the internet. And besides: in 2016 Avast aquired AVG, though still operating with separate brands. It looks like data companies have a strong inclination to eat competitors.

QUOTE 11th SEPT 2001

KHAWAGA ALBUM is constructed and maintained with an obsolete Pentium 100, running Windows 95 UK, an early version that doesn't contain bloody MS IExplore. This system includes a second boot-up on the dinosaur Windows 3.1, at the bottom it relies on the petroplyph DOS 6. I never found FAT32 nescessary, and the mother board probably won't accept it. This machine was bought at the autumn of 94, survived the early version of the haunted "95", had a half-year trip through Windows NT 3.51 and was brought back to Windows 3.11. Then I finally and fortunally got this 95 UK version : ever since, I've never faced a "blue screen" without acting provocating. Reliability rules. Windows 98 WILL bring you problems, and Windows 2000 is a monster. What I try to say is that your old system may be good enough. Don't fiddle around with things that work.

QUOTE 1st AUG 2007

I'm running XP now. I thought I never would. I even bought it ... then cracked it with the universal code available all over the internet, to get rid of the MS interference. It's a fairly good OS, after stripping it down as far as I could. I'm gonna stay here, and not even an earthquake will make me upgrade to Vista. "Hasta la vista, Vista" a friend of mine said, and left the windows platform for good. This guy is not an adventurer; he is a professional programmer. But I am a professional designer, and addicted to software not available on platforms outside Win or Mac, so far. Time will come. This bottom line has followed me through mail and forums for years: "Humans are destined party animals; technology will follow" - Linus Torvalds
It's an Intel 4 now, as a workstation. 1 Gb RAM. AMI motherboard. It serves 4 HD's (2 Western Digital Caviars, 1 Quantum and 1 IBM SCSI), a CD-station from Creative Labs and a DVD burner also from Creative. 6 USB ouputs brought to the front. Not a reasonable slot left in this midi tower, and I adore this machine. But my next will probably be an apple cage, despite the costs.

Nope, no Apple around here. That XP served me well for 10 years; the main disk finally broke down and I moved the content to a bastard I can't remember what I put inside. But it works well for me. I invested in a good video card, and there we go. That machine is silent, confident and lacks any modern outfit. It runs Win7, 32bit, making it able to keep all my good old applications up and go. For internet, I put together an almost similar machine running KaliLinux or Mint. I've never fancied the latest "innovations" as long as well-experienced outfit works as well.

QUOTE 11th SEPT 2001

KHAWAGA ALBUM is made because I had the time and opportunity to do it. I feel a little bit proud of it. If you don't find what you are searching for here, try OLGA - the ultimate lyric and tab search.

QUOTE 1st AUG 2007

OLGA is dead. In the United States, you are not allowed to share lyrics. They are coming to take you away if you're making sites like this one. The music business could have lost a few dimes, you know ... you should *really* have paid some bloody bucks for the lyrics of "This Land Is Your Land", shouldn't you? And even more bucks to get the simple tablature. The author of this song always performed with a sticker on his good old Gibson: "This machine kills fascists". I approve that. This website is made and maintained in the spirit of Woody Guthrie, and it's gonna be out there somewhere for the rest of my life. "Whatever they try to do, they can't stop the show" - Stan Ridgway

They couldn't stop the show. Nowadays almost any song can be found around the incredible net, and unreasonable lawsuits are now objected. Khawaga Album was banned for years, but now I've noticed it's been registered again. My intension was never to circumvent neigther US copyright laws nor any other country's laws, but to collect my favorites, give them allright tabs, dig the history behind the songs, share it with the community and by all means: give credit to the ones who really wrote the songs, if possible. I won't pay nobody nothing for going lickety spittely down the sidewak, whistling and humming a tune coming down from my brain. Music has been a great part of my life, and it drops with the rain. There *is* a difference between private and commercial use, for music as well as software. Both are a result of individual development. Both are a part of human evolution. And I'm a human, not an exploiter, like the music industry.

QUOTE 11th SEPT 2001

KHAWAGA ALBUM is no library or forum, but I've always got the time to help or simply talk to people sharing my interests. You'll reach Khawaga at: MAILBACK

QUOTE 1st AUG 2007

In this manner, I haven't changed too much, except for not dealing my mail addresses in public since long time ago. It is estimated that half of the internet traffic is spam. @-harvesting robots vacuum any website of any kind for mail addresses, reveal almost any camouflage and supply web criminals and fraudulent actors with material to turn internet into a giant advertising machine ... and even worse, the worlds hugest crap dump. Hence, I leave you a mail form instead. Go for it HERE.

Chuckle, for 11 years I haven't changed an inch. I'm not on any social media or platform. I thrive that way. Thanks for reading all the way down to here, and may The Big Cat bless you walking across the rainbow bridge.


khawaga, 23rd of August 2018.

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