Page Category: Semplice

1.0 Updating Semplice

The Semplice software will be updated from time to time, sometimes to fix bugs and sometimes to add new features. To pick up and apply these software updates, it's important that you periodically take the Miscellaneous menu, Option 3 : Check for program updates. This will initiate a check of the program files currently installed and a comparison with the files available from this website's server (which obviously means that you need to be connected to the Internet before the check can proceed):

The check is done by comparing MD5 checksums: a change of a single space or comma in a file will cause its checksum to change dramatically, so even minor updates will stick out like a sore thumb and trigger a checksum mismatch. [...] 

1.0 Introduction

Semplice's behaviour is controlled by the various settings found in its persistent configuration file, which is a text file called $HOME/.local/share/semplice2/txt/semplice.conf. Since it is a text file, it can be edited directly in any text editor you happen to favour. However, it consists of a set of keyword=value parameters whose meaning and legal values may not be obvious to you, so whenever you want to alter its contents, it's much better to use Semplice's own specific menu option to do so: the Miscellaneous menu, Option 1 : Edit Configuration File. Taking that option will bring up screens like this one:

...in which textual prompts are paired with data entry fields. The text prompts use natural language wherever possible and the values you assign to them are also in natural language (for example, yes or no answers, rather than binary 1 or 0 values). There are four such screens to work with, each one relating to a specific aspect of Semplice's behaviour. The one you see above controls everything about how Semplice rips music from audio CDs: what is the CD drive designator, where should ripped files be stored on hard disk, should CDs be ripped to standard or high-resolution FLACs, and so on. The specific consequence of setting or unsetting any of these parameters should be determined by reading the relevant section of the User Manual: for CD ripping, for example, you'd want to consult this page of the manual. [...] 

1.0 Introduction

By way of a whirlwind tour of installing Semplice Version 2 and then starting to use it to do something useful, this article will give you a bird's-eye view of the main 'life cycle' steps in Semplice use, as follows:

• Program Installation
• Ripping a CD
• Tagging digital music files
• Boosting ripped audio's volume levels
• Creating a SuperFLAC from per-track FLACs
• Converting between audio formats

Each section will contain a link to the part of the user manual that covers doing that activity in much more detail: this page is just really high level stuff, intended only to give you the gist of what the program can do and the best order in which to do them. [...] 

1.0 Introduction

If I'm being brutally honest with myself, I've got to admit that Semplice doesn't really run on Windows at all! It does run under Windows, though... which is a distinction techies and nerds will enjoy making, but end users need not worry about too much! The point is that Windows 10 and 11 can have the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) installed, entirely for free, and a full copy of Ubuntu, Manjaro or other Linux distro of your choice installed into that 'subsystem' then ends up able to run anything that would normally run on those Linux distros when run 'natively'. It then looks like Linux programs are running in Windows -with complete access to the Windows PC's graphics, audio and disk storage resources. This 'run within WSL' approach works well for both Windows 10 and 11, provided only that your physical PC is a 64-bit one, has a decent amount of memory fitted (8GB counts as decent for these purposes) and has virtualisation technologies enabled in its BIOS or UEFI equivalent.

For the record, I've run Semplice Version 2 on both Windows 10 and 11, in one case running on a 2012-vintage HP Folio 13, complete with 8GB RAM and a 500GB solid state hard disk and a 2nd generation Intel i5 processor running at a sedate 1.6GHz: anything more modern than a 2012 laptop is going to run rings around it, but Semplice works perfectly well on it nevertheless. [...] 

1.0 Introduction

Suse-based distros are a little bit tricky: SLES is the Suse Linux Enterprise Server and is a commercial, server-grade, heavy duty distro. The community release of that same software is called OpenSuse Leap. The 'preview' code that will eventually become OpenSuse Leap (and hence SLES) is available in the form of OpenSuse Tumbleweed. Think of Tumbleweed as a rolling distribution that's ever so slightly unstable; Leap is a rather more stable version of that; and SLES is the final, commercial-grade release of that stabilised code.

Since SLES costs money and I'm too cheap to part with any, Semplice has not been tested on SLES. But it runs perfectly fine on both Leap and Tumbleweed -so you might reasonably expect it to cope with SLES, too: I just can't tell you it does or not, because I literally don't have the relevant software to test on. [...] 

1.0 Introduction

Fedora Linux is a 'consumer' distro that is effectively owned and governed by Red Hat, which makes it a hard pass from me these days, though I was a regular user of it back in 2012-2015 or so. Semplice installs and runs on it without issue, with the only potential 'curly bit' being its requirement for the RPM Fusion Free repository to be enabled. Semplice's ability to verify audio CD rips by looking up equivalent rips in the AccurateRip database triggers the need to compile the Python Audio Tools package by hand, which is clunky... but it should all be automated so as not to be a major concern.

For this article, I'm using Fedora 39 with its default Gnome-based desktop environment, but Semplice doesn't particularly care what desktop environment you use. [...] 

1.0 Introduction

Ubuntu is a derivative of Debian and thus the Semplice installation on the one goes about as well as you'd expect on the other: Ubuntu is, in fact, an excellent Semplice host. There are no particular dramas and everything works as intended after it completes. I've tested it on Ubuntu 23.10 and 22.04, but assume it should work equally well on any other vaguely recent version, too.

For this article, I'm using Ubuntu 23.10 with its default Gnome-based desktop environment, but Semplice doesn't particularly care what desktop environment you use, so I imagine it works just fine on similar 'flavours' of Ubuntu, such as Kubuntu, Lubuntu and so on. [...] 

1.0 Introduction

Debian is one of the oldest active distros around and is the 'parent' for many child distros: you can argue the entire Ubuntu family tree descends ultimately from Debian, too. It's therefore good to know that Semplice is a first-class citizen on Debian and all its progeny. The only real point of weirdness as far as Semplice-on-Debian is concerned arises (potentially) from the fact that, by default, the non-root user created when installing Debian itself does not get given sudo privileges. That's a problem for Semplice, because it needs to access the /usr/bin folder, which requires elevated privileges: without them, the installation would fail. Accordingly, Semplice tests for the existence of sudo privileges and, if it finds them, proceeds exactly as it would do on any other distro. If it discovers that you lack sudo privileges, however, then it will ask you to supply the root user password first. With root privileges acquired, it will add you to the /etc/sudoers file. With that done, the Semplice installer can then ask you to supply your own password to access your new sudo privileges. After that, everything proceeds normally.

Just be warned, therefore, that on Debian, a line will be added to the /etc/sudoers file that grants the user installing Semplice full sudo rights on the system. That may not be something you want to live with permanently, in which case you should run visudo after the Semplice installation completes and remove that extra line. Semplice does not need sudo privileges to run. It simply needs them to be installed, so revoking sudo privileges post-install is perfectly fine. [...] 

1.0 Introduction

Arch being a fairly tricky distro to install in an entirely reliable way, various 'child' distros of it have sprung up, each trying to make the installation process simpler and more consistent. Garuda Linux is one of the weirder 'child distros' to have arisen as a result of this need for 'Arch made simpler', with a unique look and style which will repel many, whilst simultaneously endearing it (I'd imagine!) to rather a lot 🙂 I personally cannot stand it and wouldn't touch it with a bargepole... but, at the time of writing, it's 13th on the Distrowatch popularity table, so Semplice needs to be able to run on it! Fortunately, it does so with as much ease as it does on any Arch-flavoured distro.

As with all these installation articles, I assume a fresh, default installation of the underlying operating system. I always assume, however, that any installer-provided options to install third-party programs, drivers or audio codec support are taken: not that it makes any difference to the way Semplice works, but I just like to be clear on what my working assumptions are 🙂 [...] 

1.0 Introduction

Arch being a fairly tricky distro to install in an entirely reliable way, various 'child' distros of it have sprung up, each trying to make the installation process simpler and more consistent. Endeavour OS is possibly one of the more obscure 'child distros' to have arisen as a result of this need for 'Arch made simpler'... but it also happens to be what I use for my main desktop these days (though I realise that changes with the wind direction at times!) and is therefore the distro on which Semplice was principally developed.

Accordingly, Endeavour OS is a bit of a 'gold standard' distro as far as getting Semplice working properly: there should be no dramas! [...] 

1.0 Introduction

Arch being a fairly tricky distro to install in an entirely reliable way, various 'child' distros of it have sprung up, each trying to make the installation process simpler and more consistent. Manjaro is probably one of the more popular Arch 'child distros' to have arisen as a result of this need for 'Arch made simpler'! The distro generally behaves as 'proper Arch' would do and thus Semplice runs on it without drama and the Semplice installation process is identical to that you'd perform on Arch itself, too.

As with all these installation articles, I assume a fresh, default installation of the underlying operating system. I always assume, however, that any installer-provided options to install third-party programs, drivers or audio codec support are taken: not that it makes any difference to the way Semplice works, but I just like to be clear on what my working assumptions are 🙂 [...]