blacklist pcspkr

[Oliver Grawert]

Am Dienstag, den 06.11.2018, 06:31 +0100 schrieb Ralf Mardorf:
> Hi,
> 
> when upgrading Ubuntu 16.04.5 LTS right now I noticed something
> alarming.
> 
> "Configuration file '/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf'
>  ==> Modified (by you or by a script) since installation.
>  ==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version.
>    What would you like to do about it ?  Your options are:
>     Y or I  : install the package maintainer's version
>     N or O  : keep your currently-installed version
>       D     : show the differences between the versions
>       Z     : start a shell to examine the situation
>  The default action is to keep your current version.
> *** blacklist.conf (Y/I/N/O/D/Z) [default=N] ? d
> --- /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf      2016-10-23 23:06:36.499257451
> +0200 +++ /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf.dpkg-new     2018-10-29
> [snip]
>  # ugly and loud noise, getting on everyone's nerves; this should be
> done by a # nice pulseaudio bing (Ubuntu: #77010)
> -#blacklist pcspkr
> +blacklist pcspkr
> [snip]"
> 
> pcspkr is a good tool for error diagnosis. Replacing it by a bloated
> sound server is risky, since the sound server easily could fail,
> while
> pcspkr is know to work without issues.

this had originally never anything to do with sound servers per-se but
mainly with the fact that you have zero volume control over the speaker
without using one ...

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/331589

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-session/+bug/290204

... as you noted you can easily re-enable it if you need it for
diagnostics) ...

> I'm using either plain ALSA or jackd with the ALSA backend, if I need
> audio, just to listen to something from the Internet or to do
> professional grade audio productions, _but_ if I don't need to listen
> to speech or other audio material, such as music, then I don't turn
on
> an amplifier, I also don't want a sound server to waste my computer's
> resources, if I need signals from MUAs, the terminal etc., instead
I'm
> using a PC speaker beep. 

and isnt it great that ubuntu allows you to modify the default (that
pleases the majority of users) so that you can run your own custom
setup ? :)

ciao
	oli
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