Thinkpads Forum

Strange problem; search didn't help. I'm running Ubuntu 7.10 on my T61, trying to use the volume up/down buttons. Pressing either of them invokes a rather large speaker icon in the middle of the screen, and each press of a button moves the 'slider' up/down a notch, but it does nothing to the actual volume emitting from the speakers. Any hints?

[Later] OK, I think I'm on to something, though I still have no clue what to do . . . I opened something called "Volume Control: HDA Intel (Alsa mixer)" by clicking the speaker icon in the upper right task-bar. Now when I click a volume button I can see that it moves the Microphone slider up and down, but the PCM slider doesn't move. How do I link the volume buttons to the PCM controller?

I've got the same problem on an R61. The volume buttons move the wrong control. It never bothered me enough to find a solution.

You may want to look into the "tpb" package (thinkpad button). I'm pretty sure it will change the the on-screen display to something more similar to the green bars seen in Windows.

http://packages.ubuntu.com/feisty/utils/tpb

carbon_unit wrote:I've got the same problem on an R61. The volume buttons move the wrong control. It never bothered me enough to find a solution.

Really?! Drives me bonkers. I did find this today. It seems to work . . .

Edit: "this" is setting 'Default Mixer Tracks' in System / Sound Preferences / Devices to PCM (used to be Microphone).

You can do this with xbindkeys manually or with a handy GUI. Let's go the latter route:

1) Install xbindkeys-config (this will also grab xbindkeys and whatever dependencies you are missing) and aumixer. 2) Create your default config. 3) Run the GUI. 4) Click on New (bottom row)
5) Click on Get Key (right column)
6) Wait for the new window. Then press the up volume button on your Thinkpad.
7) Replace "command" by Action with aumix -w+
8) Click Apply.
9) Repeat steps 4 & 5.
10) Wait for the new window. Then press the down volume button on your Thinkpad.
11) Replace "command" by Action with aumix -w-
12) Click Save & Apply & Exit

You can do an aumix and watch to make sure the volume meter changes. The -w flag controls PCM. If you want to control something else, just type aumix --help in a terminal and choose the control you want.

I'm running the Hardy beta and the buttons work out of the box. Doesn't help you with 7.10 but I thought I'd at least mention it.

That's good to know. I have something to look forward to when it goes final. I've done enough beta testing for now.

Paul Unger wrote:Strange problem; search didn't help. I'm running Ubuntu 7.10 on my T61, trying to use the volume up/down buttons. Pressing either of them invokes a rather large speaker icon in the middle of the screen, and each press of a button moves the 'slider' up/down a notch, but it does nothing to the actual volume emitting from the speakers. Any hints?

[Later] OK, I think I'm on to something, though I still have no clue what to do . . . I opened something called "Volume Control: HDA Intel (Alsa mixer)" by clicking the speaker icon in the upper right task-bar. Now when I click a volume button I can see that it moves the Microphone slider up and down, but the PCM slider doesn't move. How do I link the volume buttons to the PCM controller?

You need to go into your sound preferences and change the device.

System > Preferences > Sound

At he bottom you will a list of devices. Choose "PCM" and close.

Right. My recent edit of my second post above noted this. But it's always good to receive confirmation!

Paul Unger wrote:Right. My recent edit of my second post above noted this. But it's always good to receive confirmation!

Oops! I missed that. =/