How do you enable the PC speaker?

[exeterdad]

Yeah I know it's a odd thing to want.  But I do.
I know it's not on by default in VL as most people hate the thing.  But I have a use for it and can't get it working.
I know the kernel module is blacklisted (pcspkr). I've removed it from the blacklist and even load the module with modprobe.  No luck.

Is the thing turned off elsewhere?  I know it can be done with xset or other means.  But although I've searched my install high and low, I can't figure out what it is.

[bigpaws]

IRC there is a setting in alsamixer

Bigpaws

[The Headacher]

I'm guessing you'll need to load the pcspkr module, but can't help much more than that:

filename:       /lib/modules/2.6.22.19/kernel/drivers/input/misc/pcspkr.ko
license:        GPL
description:    PC Speaker beeper driver
author:         Vojtech Pavlik <vojtech@ucw.cz>

[exeterdad]

I do have the pcspkr module loaded at startup:

root:# lsmod | grep pcspkr
pcspkr                  3328  0

I can't seem to find anything related to "speaker" or "pcspkr" in alsa. According to my Googling I should see "speaker" listed.
Here's my devices:

root:# amixer scontents
Simple mixer control 'Master',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pvolume-joined pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Limits: Playback 0 - 127
  Mono: Playback 96 [76%] [-23.25dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'Front',0
  Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
  Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Playback 0 - 127
  Mono:
  Front Left: Playback 127 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
  Front Right: Playback 127 [100%] [0.00dB] [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'IEC958 Default PCM',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',0
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 15
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Capture',1
  Capabilities: cvolume cswitch
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 15
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB] [off]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB] [off]
Simple mixer control 'Analog Loopback',0
  Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
  Playback channels: Mono
  Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control 'Digital Input Source',0
  Capabilities: enum
  Items: 'Analog Inputs' 'Digital Mic 1'
  Item0: 'Analog Inputs'
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',0
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic'
  Item0: 'Mic'
Simple mixer control 'Input Source',1
  Capabilities: cenum
  Items: 'Mic'
  Item0: 'Mic'
Simple mixer control 'Mux',0
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 4
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
Simple mixer control 'Mux',1
  Capabilities: cvolume
  Capture channels: Front Left - Front Right
  Limits: Capture 0 - 4
  Front Left: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB]
  Front Right: Capture 0 [0%] [0.00dB]

Not sure if it matters or not. This IS a laptop. I'd guess there isn't a actual PC speaker since any mistakes while in the BIOS results in a ear shattering beep sound that appears to be coming from the regular speakers.

I should also mention I'm running VL 5.9 Standard with Uelsk8s newer 2.6.25.7 kernel. With XFCE as a desktop.

[bigpaws]

I have never used amixer, only alsamixer. What a difference between the
two.

I do have speaker listed in mine amixer settings. Not that will help you
much. Perhaps send a email to the manufacturer asking about a system
speaker.

Not much else to offer.

Bigaws

[exeterdad]

Thanks for the confirm about "speaker". At least I know it should be there.
It could very well be this Intel driver doesn't support the PC Speaker.  Or this later kernel config varies.  I dunno.
My use for the "beep" is for my scripts to notify me about ACPI related events such as unplugged and plugged AC adaptor, or dying battery and stuff.  Visual notifications aren't enough as I'm often away from this thing and would miss the signal.

I may just set it up to play a .ogg file or something.  Or even cooler send out text phrases to festival so my machine will talk to me instead.
Great...  Reminds me of my AOL days.  "You've got mail"

[exeterdad]

Did some more digging.  It seems the snd-hda-intel driver doesn't support the PC Speaker.  Can't find any explanation, just lots of unhappy weird people that want to hear the beep.

And sure enough, if I unload the module, I can get that loud beep coming right out of my main speakers. Naturally this means I have no regular sound though.  It's a no brainer.  I need regular sound.  So I'll go another route.

[Tigerwolf]

Did some more digging.  It seems the snd-hda-intel driver doesn't support the PC Speaker.  Can't find any explanation, just lots of unhappy weird people that want to hear the beep. 

Well, you're not the only 'weird' person.  I've always turned on the kernel pcspkr support, or loaded the module if not compiled-in, since beeps can be very handy without having to bother with making sure the system sound amp is on and turned up.

You are right in that laptops often don't bother wtih the piezo-beeper common on most motherboards but rather use the sound chipset instead.   On my old IBM ThinkPad 600, the beep volume is controlled by a function key sequence which acts like a 'hardware master' level control.   I set that for comfortable beeps since there is no seperate 'pcspeaker' mixer control, and use the mixer to set other source levels.

And sure enough, if I unload the module, I can get that loud beep coming right out of my main speakers. Naturally this means I have no regular sound though.  It's a no brainer.  I need regular sound.  So I'll go another route.

If you leave off the piezo driver module, the sound mixer's 'pcspeaker' volume control *should* adjust the relative volume of the speaker beeps along with the rest of the mixer inputs.  If not, it sounds like the sound chip driver is broken.   You might look at kernel source for it, and maybe ping the driver's author.

=^_^=  Tigerwolf

[exeterdad]

You might look at kernel source for it, and maybe ping the driver's author.

No need.  I saw "somewhere" yesterday archived messages for alsa changelogs, and conversation in alsa mailing lists that PCBEEP for the hda driver is disabled for some cards.  Can't remember the explaination, just that is causes issues in other cards and it was just safer to disable and fix later since PCBEEP...  "isn't that important".

I did however see a patch submitted to the alsa-dev mailing list that makes "digital pc-beep" possible to the hda driver.  Whatever the heck that means. It might mean I'll be beeping in the future, digital instead of analog.

[Masta]

Did some more digging.  It seems the snd-hda-intel driver doesn't support the PC Speaker.  Can't find any explanation, just lots of unhappy weird people that want to hear the beep.

And sure enough, if I unload the module, I can get that loud beep coming right out of my main speakers. Naturally this means I have no regular sound though.  It's a no brainer.  I need regular sound.  So I'll go another route.

Aren't there applications that allow you to use the regular speakers for sound warnings, rather than visual warning? I remember seeing a couple applications (some time ago, apssing along my way for something else) that had settings for visual and sound.. kind of like KDE uses the system bell thing.

[exeterdad]

I was aiming for using the system beep since it didn't require resources and would make my scripts portable from one machine to the next.  I found a work around.  It's called "aplay beepsound.wav"

Of course the machine would have to have the wav file on it.  But at least I can use button sounds or clicks.  I have my sleep and resume script all pimped out with sounds made from a female text to speech thingie.  My wife hates it.