[ltp] How to get volume hotkeys working again on W500?

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Mon, Mar 01, 2010 at 12:21:42PM -0800, Marc MERLIN wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 01, 2010 at 04:41:26PM -0300, Henrique de Moraes Holschuh wrote:
> > On Sun, 28 Feb 2010, Marc MERLIN wrote:
> > > I've read the list archives, I know ubuntu did something not much loved
> > > where they generate X events on the hardware volume keys.
> > 
> > Whether that has any bearing on whatever happens in your system depends on
> > your ThinkPad model.  The newer ones from Lenovo do *NOT* issue volume
> > up/down ACPI notifications, they issue volume up/down keypresses and
> > software has to act on them or the volume won't be changed.
> 
> Aah, thanks for confirming that.
> So it sounds like my xbindkeys is indeed the way to go then.
> 
> > > I guess I can live with making this work through X, but any idea what
> > > changed or what I'm missing?
> > 
> > The hardware lost the extra console (headphone/speakers) volume control, so
> 
> Yeah, I noticed that. I wonder how many cents that saved :-/
> 
> > it now depends on the HDA mixer to do that.  It *does* have console hardware
> > mute (independent of the HDA mixer).
> 
> Thanks for explaining, so xbindkeys it is for me then.

Sorry to revive this thread, but I just installed Ubuntu 9.10
on a W500 and have a variant of this question, that might go
with the question from elsewhere in the thread of boosting the
output beyond 100%.

My volume keys do control the speaker volume, and the
xbindkeys trick doesn't seem to change anything. In any case,
I've discovered that if I open the Sound Preferences app, I
_do_ have the option of pushing the sound past 100%. However,
using the volume keys or using the volume applet will
instantly re-center the volume around the 100% mark.

In other words, if I have a quiet recording or movie (or just
want it really loud), I can use the volume slider in Sound
Preferences to push the volume high, but if I then use the
regular volume applet or the keys, the volume goes back to
"normal" and I can't push it high again without opening up
Sound Preferences.

Does anyone know if there's a way to incorporate the control I
have with Sound Preferences into the other methods of
controlling the volume?

Thanks.

Jesse Sheidlower