Semplice Linux

Semplice Linux is an open source, freely distributed, fast, simple, lightweight and low on resources computer, desktop-oriented operating system derived from the award-winning and highly acclaimed Debian GNU/Linux distribution. It is built around the Xfce graphical desktop environment.

Distributed as 32-bit and 64-bit Live CDs

The Semplice Linux operating system is distributed as two Live CD ISO images that fit perfectly on CD discs or USB thumb drives of 1GB or higher capacity, one for each of the supported hardware platforms (32-bit and 64-bit).

Modest boot menu with basic options

Each of the Live CDs include the same boot menu, which is the first thing that the users sees when booting the ISO image from the BIOS of a computer. It is a modest boot menu that includes the ability to start the live system with normal settings or in failsafe mode, start the installer directly or perform a system memory (RAM) diagnostic test.

Powered by Xfce

Before you can use the desktop environment, which is powered by Xfce, you must choose a language, select a keyboard layout and configure the timezone. The graphical session is simple and clean, comprised of a panel located on the bottom edge of the screen, which helps users to easily interact with running programs, as well as to access essential functions and programs that reside in the system tray area.

Default applications

The pre-installed application can be accessed by right-clicking anywhere on the desktop. Default applications include the PCManFM file manager, Disks disk utility, Mousepad text editor, GNU Paint drawing app, Chromium web browser, Claws Mail email client, gFTP file transfer client, Pidgin multi-protocol instant messenger, Facebook and Twitter desktop clients, uGet download manager, XChat IRC client, AbiWord word processor, Gnumeric spreadsheet editor, Exaile music player, GNOME MPlayer video player and Synaptic Package Manager.

What is new in this release:

• It has been discovered that some machines won't boot with the kernel version shipped in Semplice 7.
• The issue has now been addressed and corrected in the kernel version 3.19-3.semplice.1, which is shipping in this bugfix release.
• This means that if you had some issues booting Semplice 7 in you machine, these new ISO images should work properly.

What is new in version 6.0.0 / 7.0.0 Preview:

• Pulseaudio now enabled by default:
• Pulseaudio is now enabled by default. This also means that users with multiple audio cards will not have to manually set the right audio card as the default.
• Note that Pulseaudio can be disabled during installation by flipping the relevant switch and at any time by going to Settings -> Features.
• PCManFM compiled against GTK+3:
• Semplice 7 ships a custom PCManFM version in the package pcmanfm-semplice.
• This version is compiled against GTK+3 and also re-introduces the "Open as administrator" menu option.
• New power management indicator:
• xfce4-power-manager has been replaced with vera-plugin-power, an upower-based vera plugin that keeps track of the current battery level of connected devices.
• New screenshooter:
• xfce4-screenshooter has been removed as the Screenshot capability is built-in in vera.
• Chromium replaced by Iceweasel:
• Chromium has been replaced by Iceweasel.
• It's our plan to ship "vanilla" Mozilla-branded Firefox releases in the future.
• Desktop launcher:
• The Desktop Environment, via the vera-plugin-desktop plugin, provides a keyboard-driven launcher, that permits to easily launch applications.
• Interactive tutorial:
• New users can enjoy a new, interactive, tutorial about the basics of Semplice.
• "Web application support" removed:
• The "Web application support" feature, introduced in Semplice 5, has been removed from the standard system.
• It's still available for existing users and after the installation of the meta-openbox-feature-oneslip package.
• Exaile replaced by Pragha:
• Exaile has been replaced by Pragha Music Player.
• Menu module for MPRIS2 media players
• The Exaile menu module has been replaced by a generic extension that supports every media player compilant with the MPRIS2 specification. This include Pragha and Spotify.
• Under-the-hood changes:
• Our menu generator and framework, alan2 has been ported to GTK+3 and GMenu3.
• The quickstart library has been ported to Python 3.
• In addition, more features have been implemented, most notably support for Scenes.
• Keeptalking has been ported to Python 3 and systemd, and the new version is named keeptalking2.
• Keeptalking2 can still work without systemd by using the fallback mode.
• Control center:
• Thanks to the vera effort, we are happy to roll-out a new control center. Old configuration tools have been removed as most of the things are integrated in the control center.
• New artwork:
• Semplice 7 has an entire new artwork, sporting a modified Zukitre theme and the Moka icon theme.
• Additionally, the theme adapts to the current wallpaper.
• vera:
• This is probably the biggest feature of this cycle. vera is a new, plugin-oriented GTK+3 Desktop Environment. The current implementation is of course a bit rough and does not embrace our vision fully. We are commited to make vera the central part of the upcoming Semplice releases.

What is new in version 6.0.0:

• New init system:
• systemd is now the default init system for the standard Semplice installations. This release still ships with sysvinit, and the user can stay with the old but glorious init system by using the :bootloader:custom_init:None seed.
• Note: the Live system still boots with sysvinit. Users who are upgrading from Semplice 5.1 or earlier can decide to leave systemd disabled by issuing the following commands before the upgrade of the semplice-utilities package (to version 6.0.0 or later):
• sudo mkdir -p /etc/semplice-upgrade
• sudo touch /etc/semplice-upgrade/nosystemd
• Compressed memory (zram):
• In machines with less (or with) 2 GB of RAM, the 25% of physical memory is now reserved as swap space.
• This method permits to increase the available memory space without the bottlenecks of the Hard-Disk writing.
• Of course, a swap partition is still recommended.
• End-users can change the amount of space to reserve by editing /etc/default/zramcfg and by executing 'sudo zramcfg' from a terminal.
• Note: the Live system still Users who are upgrading from Semplice 5.1 or earlier can decide to leave zram disabled by issuing the following commands before the upgrade of the semplice-utilities package (to version 6.0.0 or later):
• sudo mkdir -p /etc/semplice-upgrade
• sudo touch /etc/semplice-upgrade/nozram
• Faster system menu:
• The menu engine has been rewritten from scratch and now the system menu is now faster than ever, while maintaining all the features of the old alan we all loved.
• Installer changes:
• The installer has got some improvements on the usability front. Also, if the window is unfocused, notifications keep the user updated during the installation process.
• Panel launchers:
• It is now possible to easily add launchers in the panel by using the built-in configuration tool located at Applications -> Preferences -> Panel.
• Window snapping:
• Window snapping is now supported. It is now possible drag a window in the top, left, right and bottom borders of the screen to, respectively, full maximize, vertically maximize at the left half of the screen, vertically maximize at the right half of the screen and close.
• Bug fixes and minor improvements:
• Other minor improvements were made in various areas of the system. Also, as always, many bugs were squashed.

What is new in version 5.0.0:

• We changed a lot of things and fixed many nasty bugs. For example, we added UEFI, LVM and encrypted LVM support in our even more awesome installer. So, even if NSA goes to your home, they can't retrieve your important personal data. And you can get easily to your favourite web applications via our new WebKit2-based web application viewer, oneslip. By default we include links to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a beautiful Tetris game. Also, you can now further customize the features of your Semplice box.

What is new in version 4.0.0:

• New artwork:
• We added new artwork consisting of a new wallpaper, a new default theme, a Dark variant of it and the Faenza icon set.
• New volume control and mixer:
• volumeicon has now replaced volti as the default volume control tray application. Along with this change, a new GTK+3 mixer, cymbaline, replaced volti-mixer as the default mixer for Semplice.
• Visual effects:
• compton is now shipping by default with a nice GTK+3 configuration application, paranoid.
• Features selection:
• bricks is a new tool that permits to easily remove some resource-intensive applications (such as Bluetooth and Printing support) that in some systems are useless.
• Writing on unclean partitions support in linstaller:
• Our installation program, linstaller now supports writing on unclean partitions. Please see the "Mount during the installation phase" checkbox on the Edit Partition window.
• Other changes:
• With this release, Semplice switches to a full rolling-release model. Every "release" shares the same archives, "unstable" and "changes-unstable" (used to store changes from the stock Debian sid).
• Semplice 4 ships the GTK+ libraries version 3.6 (Debian Sid is still at 3.4).
• Semplice 4 ships pcmanfm version 1.1.0 (Debian Sid is still at 0.9.10).
• ClipIt replaces Parcellite as the default clipboard manager.
• The meta packages are now prefixed with meta- instead of the scary system-.
• All of our work is now easily available at GitHub.
• BUG FIXES!

What is new in version 3.0.0:

• lxshortcut has been added.
• Pcmanfm can now create shortcuts.

What is new in version 3.0 RC:

• Automatic partitioning in graphical frontend:
• linstaller's graphical frontend now supports automatic partitioning.
• "Enable Root" switch:
• The installer now asks if enable the root account or not.
• Language/Keyboard/Timezone list in linstaller's graphical frontend
• linstaller's graphical frontend now shows the entire list of language/keyboard layouts/timezones.
• Save space keeptalking feature:
• keeptalking, our international friend, can now remove unused locales, as documented here.
• Removed semplice-backup:
• semplice-backup (sb) has been removed from the standard distribution as it is still not ready for a stable Semplice release.
• Notification daemon change:
• notify-osd, previously used as the default notification daemon, has been replaced with xfce4-notifyd.
• Bug fixes:
• Many bugs have been fixed.

What is new in version 2.0.2:

• Fixed automount of VFAT partitions
• Fixed non-empty automount partitions handling
• Fixed partition sorting during fstab creation
• Fixed nitrogen-add-wallpaper bug when adding wallpapers with spaces in path
• Fixed volti multimedia keys
• When enabled in volti, the multimedia keys should now work.
• New firmwares
• atmel-firmware, bluez-firmware, firmware-crystalhd, firmware-libertas, firmware-myricom, linux-wlan-ng-firmware, midisport-firmware and zd1211-firmware.
• Mobile broadband support

What is new in version 3.0 Alpha 1:

• Dropped 486 support:
• The Semplice 32 bit release does not support 486 and 586 machines. An upgrade from 2.0 does NOT force the installation of the new kernel. The old kernel is still supported by Debian, and can be included in custom remasters using pylaivng.
• The switch to the 686 kernel brings PAE and SMP support.
• Mirrorselect:
• It is now possible to select the fastest mirror for debian and semplice archives using the program mirrorselect.
• The installer can now perform the check during install, too.
• Installer changes:
• The installer got an overhaul on it's modules system, and handles frontends better.
• The installer can now reinstall the bootloader without the need to reinstall the system.
• semplice-backup:
• The latest release of the experimental semplice-backup is now installed by default.
• Revamped autostart:
• The autostart scripts have been heavily modified and they're faster and cleaner.
• In addition, the user can specify the panel to use and it's configuration. Pcmanfm desktop mode is now supported (use icons="y" to enable it).
• Alan caches:
• Alan now caches the menus to bring them faster at the user request.
• New help menu:
• A new help menu has been implemented, with links to useful semplice-related resources. The "Semplice on IRC" does not work currently.
• XChat:
• XChat (IRC Client) ships now by default.
• Extendable alan configuration:
• The configuration is now extendable. This means that an user can put only the changes on the user configuration file and not copy the entire system-wide configuration file anymore.
• APT tweaks:
• autoremove is now disabled and triggers are executed only once.
• You can install the semplice-apt-conf-nopdiffs package to disable PDiffs (useful if you have a low-end hardware).

What is new in version 2.0.0:

• linstaller inline preseeds:
• It's now possible to pass seeds to linstaller via command-line arguments.
• Bug fixes:
• Many bug fixes have been issued.