topic Re: DECwindows speaker volume control in Operating System - OpenVMS

DECwindows speaker volume control

alphacat — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:37:27 GMT

Hi everyone,

On my XP1000, OpenVMS 7.3, the internal system speaker is very loud making me feel uncomfortable.

The intended control of speaker volume in DECwindows CDE has no effect on the speaker except switching it completely off when moved to zero (on the contrary the speaker tone is controlled well).

Note: DECwindows is patched to the latest version relevant to VMS 7.3.

Besides this setting is not saved from session to session.

So I found it better to plug the speaker off from the mainboard, and my XP1000 now works silently.

Is there a way to gain control over the speaker volume?

Thanks

Re: DECwindows speaker volume control

Steven Schweda — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 22:29:52 GMT

   Which kind of sound? Key clicks? Beeps? CD audio? MP3 player?

   A quick search in Google Groups of comp.os.vms for, say:
      speaker volume
should find some old (probably disappointing) information.

> Besides this setting is not saved from session to session.

   Really? I don't close a session very often (roughly once per system
start-up), and I'm away from my XP1000 at the moment, but I'd've guessed
that properly exiting a session would get that setting saved properly.
As I recall, the CDE doesn't save anything until you do a proper Exit.

Re: DECwindows speaker volume control

alphacat — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:55:05 GMT

Yes, I mean beeps.

Also I mean a session from startup to shutdown as I am the only user of this home machine

(of course it is nesessary to re-login to system to perform shutdown).

Thanks for comments.

Re: DECwindows speaker volume control

Hoff — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:38:59 GMT

This case has been discussed occasionally in both comp.os.vms and in the OpenVMS FAQ. (The FAQ has a section on the versions and on how this sort-of works in DECwindows Motif interface.)

With DECwindows CDE, you must log out of the CDE session to get the settings changes to save. A shut down or a crash will result in the loss of settings within DECwindows CDE. You must cleanly log out of the session to trigger the save.

DECwindows CDE was fristrating enough (for me) that I reverted to DECwindows Motif when I'm using X (and there does exist a configuration sequence to shut off CDE and revert to Motif), and where (when I must use CDE) I will prefer to immediately log out and back in again after any settings changes. That avoids settings loss.

As for a brute-force fix, pull off the front cover off the AlphaStation XP1000 and apply some sound-deadening material atop the speaker grillwork. Alternatively, you can also also install a potemeter in the speaker wiring circuit as a volume control. (No, I don't know off-hand what resistance rating you'd need for that pot.)

Re: DECwindows speaker volume control

Steven Schweda — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:58:17 GMT

> As I recall, the CDE doesn't save anything until you do a proper Exit.

> Also I mean a session from startup to shutdown as I am the only user
> of this home machine

   Shutting down the system and hitting the CDE "Exit" button are not
equivalent, which is why I said what I said. As usual, showing actual
commands with their actual output can be more helpful than vague
descriptions or interpretations. You may know exactly what you're
doing, but my psychic powers are too weak to tell me exactly what you're
doing without your help.

   Around here:

ALP $ search [.DT.SESSIONS.current]dt.* bell

******************************
SYS$SYSROOT:[SYSMGR.DT.SESSIONS.current]dt.settings;1

Dtsession*BellPitch:    82
Dtsession*BellPercent: 0
Dtsession*BellDuration: 100

I believe that that's where the CDE software stores the "beep" ("Bell")
settings, and I seem to have them saved. I seem not to have changed
much recently:

ALP $ dire /date SYS$SYSROOT:[SYSMGR.DT.SESSIONS.current]dt.settings

Directory SYS$SYSROOT:[SYSMGR.DT.SESSIONS.current]

dt.settings;1        22-OCT-2009 23:43:42.77

Re: DECwindows speaker volume control

alphacat — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:24:30 GMT

Thanks to all for the attention and time spent.

The ideas are useful and interesting.

Re: DECwindows speaker volume control

Bob Blunt — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:29:12 GMT

There are "beeps" and then there are "BEEPS." Yes, they all come through the same speaker but some are controllable and others are not. I will admit that the XP1000 is loud. I miss having one even with the cantankerous speaker. The controllable beeps occur from within either of the session manager "styles" (either CDE, Motif or open source). The ones you can't control with "software" are those that are coming from the primative system bios (like the power-on beep codes signalling a system failure) or from the underlying system console (like in OpenVMS with Motif). Trust me, you WANT to hear the power-on beep codes. The sounds emitting from the operating system console would be nice to mitigate, but they're not that frequent (I only heard them during shutdown or when using O/S console itself).

bob