I have tried everything with sounds on Slackware and after over a decade am at the end of it.
I have uncommented /sbin/modprobe pcspkr in rc.modules.
I have commented blacklist pcspkr in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
I have set bell-style audible in /etc/inputrc
and I still can't get echo 007 or \a or ctrl-v,ctrl-G to produce a sound on the system speaker. It does beep during boot so it is working somewhere somehow. Can someone show me how to get bash echo to produce a beep from the system speaker?
That's just the system POST beep.
First of all, you have to be logged into a local console for that to work. xterm or ssh won't cut it.
Second, your kernel has to be configured to use it. device drivers -> input device support -> miscellaneous devices -> <M> PC Speaker support which should produce CONFIG_INPUT_PCSPKR=m in your .config file.
Third, the module actually has to be loaded.
$ modprobe pcspkr
Fourth, depending on your system and soundcard, you may need to enable the pcspkr channel in your mixer settings.
You might also try installing the beep utility. While this won't fix your terminals, you can use it to at least confirm the kernel is using the PC speaker...
Corona688 THANX. The problem is with #1 apparently since I had taken care of 2-3. So are you saying for #1 that I can only invoke a beep from a virtual console using echo command and must use xset in an X-window?
I have (#4?) P C Speak unmuted and set to 80% in alsamixer -c2 is that what you meant by enabling the channel?
xterms are virtual consoles too. But only a raw text terminal, like you get with ctrl-alt-f1, is handled directly by the kernel in a way to enable console beeps by default afaik.
If you have working PC beeps this should work from any console: sudo echo -e '\a' > /dev/console
The beep utility I suggested would also work.
There may also be ways to tell X to use console beeps that I'm unaware of.
Yes.