Semplice Linux 7 发布

Semplice Linux是一份简单的、快速的、轻量级的发行，它基于Debian不稳定分支。它包含了一小批运行于Openbox窗口管理器之上的最新应用软件。

Every revolution starts with a small step. Semplice 7 is ours.
Since our first release 5 years ago, our goal was to create an innovative and lightweight operating system, and not being a "me-too" Openbox-based distribution like many are showing up lately.
Admittedly, we have been good at being an Openbox-based distribution. Semplice 6 was our own peak and I'm truly proud of it.
But it's time to move on.

It's my pleasure to announce the release of Semplice 7, codenamed "Comfortably Numb".

Functionally and aesthetically wise, you won't find that many differences with Semplice 6. But under-the-hood there are plenty.
Openbox became a component of the Desktop Environment, and not the Desktop Environment itself.
This distinction will help me introduce vera, a plugin-based GTK+3 Desktop Environment, made from scratch by us.
Currently Openbox and tint2 run as plugins, but they will eventually get replaced by our own ones.
We are not fan of the NIH thing, but personally I feel that this is the right step to make in order to get things up and running on Wayland.

Wayland is the future and it's actually already production-ready (I, for example, already run it in my phone, and it's pretty damn exciting).
We can't go on with GTK+2 and Xlib, and switching to GTK+3 is a time-consuming but necessary step.

This is a long road, and with Semplice 7 we are just at the beginning of it.
That doesn't mean that the release I'm announcing today is not stable or whatever. Just keep in mind that it's the good ol' Semplice, and do not expect too much (for now) by the new Desktop Environment.

That said, the changes in this release are indeed huge and this blog post is probably not the right place to list them all.
You can have a look at the release notes here.

For a glimpse on what you can find in the iso image you're downloading right now (because you are, aren't you?), in Semplice 7 you can find a brand new Control Center, a new desktop launcher, a new power manager, a new screenshot applet, a new music player (pragha), a new music control menu extension that supports every MPRIS2-based music player (yes, you can control Spotify with it), a new artwork and many other (new :P) things.
And the best thing? You change the wallpaper and the System adapts the theme color to it. It's truly amazing!

This is our greatest release yet, but hopefully Semplice 8 will be even better.

After 15 intense months, development will slow down a bit, at least for the remaining of the first half of this year, as I have high school exams to take.
There are great things planned though and I can't wait to show them all!

In the meantime, get Semplice 7 now!

As a side note, I'm toying up with the idea of a Debian-stable based Semplice. This of course is not meant as a replacement of the Debian sid variant, but just as an alternative to the awesome Crunchbang that unfortunately is not maintained anymore. Given that Debian Jessie is really similar to sid these days, a stable variant would not be hard to make. What do you guys think? Please give me feedback to the idea!

Rock on!
Eugenio