Thread: Basic mixer and volume icon setup in LXDE / Lubuntu / Peppermint etc.

i've installed debian based lxde based distro (peppermint based on ubuntu) on older laptop pretty ancient hardware (circa 2005~2006). i've been impressed lxde. it's faster winxp ever on machine, thing disappointed audio. worked, , it. there no mixer , volume icon in task bar didn't much. on 2 months, i've gotten point i'm happy it. on "pretty-fying" sound in lxde sparse. wrote because lxde , want people avoid frustration it. sound control major drawback saw, , solve problem.

lxde lightweight , default installed sound support lightweight too. write-up meant keep things lightweight too, i.e. not installing pulse audio , bells , whistles come it. if want that, write-up not you. i'm gearing towards install lxde necessity, because hardware won't run gnome or unity or cinnamon well. default, alsa provides sound functionality in these lxde distros , going stick that. first, need mixer. that, use "xfce4-mixer". it's xfce desktop, it's pretty lightweight , works fine our purposes.

code:

sudo apt-get install libasound2-dev sudo apt-get install xfce4-mixer

at point, sound mixer installed, volume icon still doesn't work right. found replacement volume icon.

disable default volume icon. remove task bar right clicking somewhere on task bar, add/remove panel items... disable it.

rest of write-up more or less based on found @ these 2 sites:
http://softwarebakery.com/maato/volumeicon.html
http://mapopa.blogspot.com/2011/11/v...wo-better.html

before building , installing new volume icon, make sure these basic things installed.

code:

sudo apt-get install gcc sudo apt-get install pkg-config sudo apt-get install libgtk2.0-dev sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-alsa

i think these packages need... along 2 above. if find 1 missed, please post. did on peppermint different lubuntu. if find discrepencies, please so.

now, download volume icon source first site. version 0.4.6 last version based on gtk2 (this 1 want). starting 0.5.0, need gtk3.

attached here well:
volumeicon-0.4.6.tar.gz

extract volume icon tar file (where * version downloaded):

code:

gunzip volumeicon-*.tar.gz tar -xvf volumeicon-*.tar cd volumeicon-*

then:

code:

./configure --prefix=/usr make sudo make install

if multiple sound cards:

code:

cat /proc/asound/cards     0 [hdmi           ]: hda-intel - hda ati hdmi                          hda ati hdmi @ 0xfeaec000 irq 44     1 [default        ]: usb-audio - microsoft lifechat lx-3000                           microsoft lifechat lx-3000  @ usb-0000:00:1d.2-1, full speed

code:

vim ~/.config/volumeicon/volumeicon     [alsa]     card=hw:1

you can start volumeicon by:

code:

volumeicon &

after volumeicon started, right click , in preferences:
change channel be: "pcm"
change external mixer be: "xfce4-mixer"
choose icon theme... "blue bar" blue bar next volume icon in system tray changes volume level.

now, make multimedia hot keys work correctly (if don't have special volume up/down/mute hot keys on machine, skip this).
open:
~/.config/openbox/rc.xml (pure lxde/debian/lubuntu)
~/.config/openbox/peppermint-rc.xml (peppermint)

search "xf86audio" , there should 3 entries.
compare , change them this:

code:

<!-- keybinding volume management -->     <keybind key="xf86audioraisevolume">          <action name="execute">              <!-- 'amixer -q sset master 3%+ unmute' not work correctly -->              <command>amixer -q sset pcm 3%+ unmute</command>          </action>     </keybind>     <keybind key="xf86audiolowervolume">          <action name="execute">              <!-- 'amixer -q sset master 3%- unmute' not work correctly -->              <command>amixer -q sset pcm 3%- unmute</command>          </action>     </keybind>     <keybind key="xf86audiomute">          <action name="execute">              <!-- 'amixer -q sset master toggle' can set here if prooves insufficient -->              <command>amixer -q sset pcm toggle</command>          </action> </keybind>

the actions default set operate on "master" channel not the
true volume. make hot keys work right, need control pcm channel.

add volume icon startup session starts login.
if on pure lxde/debian

code:

vim ~/.config/lxsession/lxde/autostart     #add file     @volumeicon

if on lubuntu

code:

vim ~/.config/lxsession/lubuntu/autostart     #add file     @volumeicon

if on peppermint

code:

vim ~/.config/lxsession/peppermint/autostart     #add file     @volumeicon

by default when click on volume icon mutes sound card in preferences put left mouse button action open slider , channel pcm.

@ point, can restart computer , changes should take effect. volume icon should appear in system tray. single left mouse click on volume icon produce slider. right clicking give menu can open mixer if like. multimedia hot keys if have them should work , control pcm volume, , mute.

few more notes... volume icon seems actively use 20 mb of ram on average. xfce4-mixer seems use same. if can't spare 40 mb of memory, perhaps don't need sound control... might need new computer.

Forum The Ubuntu Forum Community Ubuntu Official Flavours Support Multimedia Software [lubuntu] Basic mixer and volume icon setup in LXDE / Lubuntu / Peppermint etc.

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