added a new feature: disable pc speaker

added a new feature: disable pc speaker

[Nico Schottelius]

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Hi guys!

I have searched a long time for a method to disable the internal
speaker for every application, every daemon and so on.
With the help of [] I have found the right file :

drivers/char/vt.c

Now I have made some changes to this file (from 2.4.4 kernel).
I wanted to ask you whether you can/will put this feature into the next
kernel release (f.i. 2.4.5).
Below is a description of what I did, hope I changed the right
files and didn't brake any kernel structure...
That's also the reason I don't send a config.in diff.

Regards,

Nico


1. Changed vt.c (diff attached)
2. Changed arch/{i386,alpha,ppc,arm,mips}/config.in :

if [ "$CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL" = "y" ]; then
   bool '  Disable the PC-Speaker' CONFIG_DISABLE_PC_SPEAKER
fi

(should be the last item of the 'General Setup' Menu)

3. Changed init/main.c (diff attached)
4. wrote text for Configure.help:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disables the Internal (PC) speaker
CONFIG_DISABLE_PC_SPEAKER
  Whenever you don't want your computer to be able to beep,
  choose this option. Not selected, the computer will be able
  to beep.

  Attention: This will not catch the beeps made directly by the
  BIOS (mostly this happens when using a notebook and pressing
  special key codes). To disable this "BIOS-beep" enter the
  BIOS and change it there.

  If you are unsure, say N to this.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you allow this thing to get into the kernel, could
Axel Bold (axel@uni-paderborn.de as found in Configure.help)
put this text into the Configure.help file ?



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Re: added a new feature: disable pc speaker

[Simon Richter]

On Fri, 4 May 2001, Nico Schottelius wrote:

> I have searched a long time for a method to disable the internal
> speaker for every application, every daemon and so on.

It would be cool if that weren't a compile time option but configurable at
runtime (via sysctl).

   Simon

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Re: added a new feature: disable pc speaker

[Keith Owens]

On Fri, 04 May 2001 13:37:08 +0200, 
Nico Schottelius <nicos@pcsystems.de> wrote:
>I have searched a long time for a method to disable the internal
>speaker for every application, every daemon and so on.

Userspace problem, userspace fix.

  setterm -blength 0 (text)
  xset b 0 (X11)

Re: added a new feature: disable pc speaker

[Oystein Viggen]

Quoth Keith Owens: 

> Userspace problem, userspace fix.
> 
>   setterm -blength 0 (text)
>   xset b 0 (X11)

Well, some buggy programs don't care about you turning off beeping in
X.  I think gnome-terminal or such has its own checkbox for turning
beeps on or off. 

I still agree that this is fixing userspace bugs in the kernel, and
probably not desirable, even if I think I'd disable the pc speaker if
the kernel actually asked me.  If nothing else, I figure it would make
my kernel 0.5k or so smaller  ;)

Oystein
-- 
When in doubt: Recompile.

Re: added a new feature: disable pc speaker

[Nico Schottelius]

> >   setterm -blength 0 (text)
> >   xset b 0 (X11)
>
> Well, some buggy programs don't care about you turning off beeping in
> X.  I think gnome-terminal or such has its own checkbox for turning
> beeps on or off.

Exactly.

> I still agree that this is fixing userspace bugs in the kernel, and
> probably not desirable, even if I think I'd disable the pc speaker if
> the kernel actually asked me.  If nothing else, I figure it would make
> my kernel 0.5k or so smaller  ;)

Something about that, didn't make any comparision to a original
2.4.4 kernel.


I first thought the same Keith did, a userspace program.
This could call the same asm code used in kd_nosound,
but the problem is, the next time _kd_mksound is called,
sound is enabled again.

Can somebody give me a hint where to find documentation about
sysctl and howto use/program that ?
This is what Simon and David suggested.

But as long as I am not able to make sysctl's, I would like
to add this feature under the General setup.

What do you think ?

Nico

Re: added a new feature: disable pc speaker

[Oystein Viggen]

Quoth Nico Schottelius: 

> Can somebody give me a hint where to find documentation about
> sysctl and howto use/program that ?
> This is what Simon and David suggested.
> 
> But as long as I am not able to make sysctl's, I would like
> to add this feature under the General setup.
> 
> What do you think ?

A sysctl would be a lot nicer for distributions, as one could ship a
standard nosound setup and letting people enable it in rc.sysctl or
whatever.  This would save you from hearing the clueless users who just
installed linux (RH 7.2 :) for the first time going *beep* *beep* *beep*
for hours.

For people who compile their own kernels, a compile time option should
be quite enough, though.

Oystein
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