beep makes no sound on xfce

beep makes no sound on xfce

[Joe Riel]

Recently the Emacs beep command quit working; it no longer produces a
beep.  Any idea how I can figure out how to restore it?  I believe
this happened once before, a few years ago.

I'm on xfce4, on Debian.  I brought up the xfce4-mixer and turned on
every playback device and moved all the volumes to max.

The shell beep command works.  I continue to get sound from other
sources.  But not emacs.  Any pointers as to where I should be
looking (listening)?

-- 
Joe Riel

Re: beep makes no sound on xfce

[Michael Heerdegen]

Joe Riel <joer@san.rr.com> writes:

> Recently the Emacs beep command quit working; it no longer produces a
> beep.  Any idea how I can figure out how to restore it?  I believe
> this happened once before, a few years ago.

Have you configured `ring-bell-function' or `visible-bell'?  What about
emacs -Q?


Michael.

Re: beep makes no sound on xfce

[Joe Riel]

On Sat, 12 Sep 2015 11:21:32 +0200
Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> wrote:

> Joe Riel <joer@san.rr.com> writes:
> 
> > Recently the Emacs beep command quit working; it no longer produces a
> > beep.  Any idea how I can figure out how to restore it?  I believe
> > this happened once before, a few years ago.
> 
> Have you configured `ring-bell-function' or `visible-bell'?  What about
> emacs -Q?

I wasn't aware of ring-bell-function.  I've never set it before, it is
currently nil.  I get the same effect with emacs -Q.  

Any idea what mechanism emacs uses to generate a beep on linux?
I'm thinking the problem lies there, rather than in emacs.

-- 
Joe Riel

Re: beep makes no sound on xfce

[Michael Heerdegen]

Joe Riel <joer@san.rr.com> writes:

> Any idea what mechanism emacs uses to generate a beep on linux?  I'm
> thinking the problem lies there, rather than in emacs.

I think `XTring_bell' in xterm.c is the function implementing this:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
static void
XTring_bell (struct frame *f)
{
  if (FRAME_X_DISPLAY (f))
    {
      if (visible_bell)
	XTflash (f);
      else
	{
	  block_input ();
#ifdef HAVE_XKB
          XkbBell (FRAME_X_DISPLAY (f), None, 0, None);
#else
	  XBell (FRAME_X_DISPLAY (f), 0);
#endif
	  XFlush (FRAME_X_DISPLAY (f));
	  unblock_input ();
	}
    }
}
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

I don't have any background knowledge, AFAICT this calls the system bell
via X.  AFAIK the X bell used to activate some little beeper device that
modern hardware often doesn't have.  It never worked for me, for
example, so I use the visible bell.

There is a news entry about the above function btw:

  2013-03-25  Jan Djärv  <jan.h.d@swipnet.se>

	* xterm.c: Include X11/XKBlib.h
	(XTring_bell): Use XkbBell if HAVE_XKB (Bug#14041).

Others hopefully can help further.


Regards,

Michael.

Re: beep makes no sound on xfce

[Marco Wahl]

Joe Riel <joer@san.rr.com> writes:

> On Sat, 12 Sep 2015 11:21:32 +0200
> Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> wrote:
>
>> Joe Riel <joer@san.rr.com> writes:
>> 
>> > Recently the Emacs beep command quit working; it no longer produces a
>> > beep.  Any idea how I can figure out how to restore it?  I believe
>> > this happened once before, a few years ago.
>> 
>> Have you configured `ring-bell-function' or `visible-bell'?  What about
>> emacs -Q?
>
> I wasn't aware of ring-bell-function.  I've never set it before, it is
> currently nil.  I get the same effect with emacs -Q.  
>
> Any idea what mechanism emacs uses to generate a beep on linux?
> I'm thinking the problem lies there, rather than in emacs.

I have the command 'beep' on my linux system.  The command 'amixer'
allows to control the beep.

amixer get Beep
amixer set Beep on
amixer set Beep off


HTH
-- 
GPG: 0x49010A040A3AE6F2

Re: beep makes no sound on xfce

[Joe Riel]

On Sat, 12 Sep 2015 18:03:16 +0200
Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> wrote:

> Joe Riel <joer@san.rr.com> writes:
> 
> > Any idea what mechanism emacs uses to generate a beep on linux?  I'm
> > thinking the problem lies there, rather than in emacs.
> 
> I think `XTring_bell' in xterm.c is the function implementing this:
> 
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> static void
> XTring_bell (struct frame *f)
> {
>   if (FRAME_X_DISPLAY (f))
>     {
>       if (visible_bell)
> 	XTflash (f);
>       else
> 	{
> 	  block_input ();
> #ifdef HAVE_XKB
>           XkbBell (FRAME_X_DISPLAY (f), None, 0, None);
> #else
> 	  XBell (FRAME_X_DISPLAY (f), 0);
> #endif
> 	  XFlush (FRAME_X_DISPLAY (f));
> 	  unblock_input ();
> 	}
>     }
> }
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
> 
> I don't have any background knowledge, AFAICT this calls the system bell
> via X.  AFAIK the X bell used to activate some little beeper device that
> modern hardware often doesn't have.  It never worked for me, for
> example, so I use the visible bell.
> 
> There is a news entry about the above function btw:
> 
>   2013-03-25  Jan Djärv  <jan.h.d@swipnet.se>
> 
> 	* xterm.c: Include X11/XKBlib.h
> 	(XTring_bell): Use XkbBell if HAVE_XKB (Bug#14041).
> 
> Others hopefully can help further.

Thanks.  Interesting.  Turns out a reboot solved my problem,
the bell is now ringing (more like beeping).


-- 
Joe Riel