[alsa-devel] PC speaker beeps in 2.6.30?

[Kurt J. Bosch]

On 2009-06-30 17:40, Takashi Iwai wrote:
> At Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:35:00 +0200,
> Kurt J. Bosch wrote:
>>
>> On 2009-06-30 14:53, Takashi Iwai wrote:
>>> At Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:31:07 +0200,
>>> Kurt J. Bosch wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On 2009-06-30 07:57, Takashi Iwai wrote:
>>>>> At Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:24:14 -0700,
>>>>> Paul Vojta wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 01:09:26PM +0200, Kurt J. Bosch wrote:
>>>>>>> On 2009-06-28 10:38, Takashi Iwai wrote:
>>>>>>>> At Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:39:08 -0700,
>>>>>>>> Paul Vojta wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On Sat, Jun 27, 2009 at 09:36:42AM +0200, Takashi Iwai wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> At Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:03:54 +0400,
>>>>>>>>>> Michael Tokarev wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> [Adding some more Cc's...]
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Am I the only concerned about this?  My 2.6.30 is still
>>>>>>>>>>> silent w.r.t. old good PC speaker beeps, and I wasn't
>>>>>>>>>>> able to make it to produce any sound.  Yes, as pointed
>>>>>>>>>>> out by others there is a control now, in alsa, and I
>>>>>>>>>>> can hear ugly and scary beeps from my stereo speakers
>>>>>>>>>>> (when they're turned on and when the control is un-muted).
>>>>>>>>>>> But that's.. not a solution/answer to the original
>>>>>>>>>>> question... ;)
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Try 2.6.31-rc1.  There was a fix regarding beep frequency.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Not necessarily.  Based on the OP's original post, as well as his mails
>>>>>>>>> to the LKML (Google the subject line to find them), he has a desktop
>>>>>>>>> system with external powered speakers connected to a sound card, and also
>>>>>>>>> a small PC speaker inside the system case.  He wants to hear the beeps
>>>>>>>>> coming out of the small speaker, since the external speakers (and/or sound
>>>>>>>>> card) are not always turned on.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> To avoid someone misunderstanding: the beep routed through HD-audio
>>>>>>>> can also go to the built-in speaker.  It's just mixed up with the
>>>>>>>> normal audio output, and the volume is controlled via ALSA mixer
>>>>>>>> volume element.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> But, once after it's hooked up to the codec, the beep can't be output
>>>>>>>> separately to the speaker.  It's always with other audio signal to the
>>>>>>>> same output target.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Or, on some systems (mostly laptops), the beep is hooked up to the
>>>>>>>> codec automatically no matter whether you set
>>>>>>>> CONFIG_SND_HDA_INPUT_BEEP once when the codec chip is initialized.
>>>>>>>> So, the behavior depends pretty much on the hardware implementation.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I face the same problem as the OP since kernel 2.6.30 on ArchLinux on
>>>>>>> a desktop machine. I was able to get beep working through the built in
>>>>>>> speaker again by doing a 'modprobe -r pcspkr' followed by a
>>>>>>> 'modprobe pcspkr' after sysinit. It seems there is some kind of
>>>>>>> struggle goinig on here between alsa and pcspkr. Isn't there any
>>>>>>> kernel line or modules configuration option to disable the alsa pc-beep?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hm... apparently not.  Probably there should be a module option for this, though.
>>>>>
>>>>> In the latest sound git tree, you can use "patch" file (passed via
>>>>> module option) to specify codec-specific setup.
>>>>> It's for 2.6.32, though.
>>>>>
>>>> Sounds rather complicated to me. :)
>>>> ALSA's snd-hda-intel is stealing the beeps allready 'owned' by pcspkr.
>>>
>>> It just adds another beep input device.
>>>
>> If that is true both should sound in parallel and then I had to file a bug
>> against ArchLinux ?
>
> It's a feature.

If one module stealing functionality from the other an vice versa is a 
feature
now than I think Linux became some kind of funny video game (like pong) 
now. LoL
>
>>>> It does
>>>> this every time it gets [re]loaded. Doing so while lacking a
>>>> configuration option
>>>> to disable that behavior is a bug IMHO.
>>>
>>> There is a configuration option.
>>>
>> But not for the kernel cmdline, right. ;)
>
> But you can do it via patch module option (in the later kernel).
>
Later kernel ? That's why I keep the earlier kernel packages for
downgrading. ;)
>
>>>> (If you use beep to get some alarm
>>>> notification from hardware sensors or such you will depend on stereo
>>>> speakers
>>>> connected and powered on.) Do I miss something ?
>>>
>>> Yes.
>>>
>> Patching drivers and building my own kernels again as in the old days ?
>
> Why not?

Do you build all your machines (including type writers ans dish washers)
yourself ? :D

Have fun ! Cheers kujub