Ubuntu – Turn off Motherboard/PC Speaker “beep” in Ubuntu 16.04 regression

After much searching I found typing this in the Terminal works:

pactl upload-sample /usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/stereo/message.ogg bell.ogg

It will give a soft bubble popping sound instead of annoying beep. All the other .ogg files can be used from /usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/stereo and /usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/notifications.

The next step is to make it persistent but at least after long hours of searching progress has been made!

Edit 1 - Making it persistent

Internet searches suggest putting:

pactl upload-sample /usr/share/sounds/ubuntu/stereo/message.ogg bell.ogg

into the file ~/.profile but that didn't work. Perhaps pulseaudio wasn't running at that time?

So I ended up putting it in Startup Applications in this screen:

Now it the annoying beeping is gone and a soft bubble popping sound works like a charm in the terminal and gedit.

Edit 2 - Create bash playall, default and menu scripts

Rather than switching directories to select the bell de jour I created a new directory and copied sound candidates from /usr/share/sounds/.../... there:

$ ls /usr/local/bin/bell/sounds
Amsterdam.ogg  Blip.ogg     Mallet.ogg   Positive.ogg  Slick.ogg
bell.ogg       default.ogg  message.ogg  Rhodes.ogg

Next I created a script to sample all sounds in a directory. If a given sound file plays to long you can skip to the end with Ctrl+C.

$cat /usr/local/bin/playall-bells
#! /bin/bash

# NAME: playall-bells
# PATH: /usr/local/bin
# DESC: Play all songs in directory /usr/local/bin/bell/sounds.
#       Parameter 1 can override to different directory.
# CALL: Typically call with "playall-bells" (no parameters).
# DATE: Created Sep 30 2016.

DIRNAME="$1"

# if no parameters set DIRNAME to bell/sounds
if [ $# == 0 ]; then
    DIRNAME=/usr/local/bin/bell/sounds
fi

# Cookie cutter debug section. Remove # from echo's
#echo "********************************************************"
#echo "*                                                      *"
#echo "*  THE DIRECTORY IS: $DIRNAME"
#echo "*                                                      *"
#echo "********************************************************"

for file in $DIRNAME
do
    printf $DIRNAME
    ogg123 $DIRNAME # If a sound plays too long <Ctrl>+C for next
done

A special sound file called default.ogg is used to set the bell sound during boot. To set the default a new script was created.

$cat /usr/local/bin/load-default-bell
#! /bin/bash

# NAME: load-default-bell
# PATH: /usr/local/bin
#      `.ogg` sound files are stored in `/usr/local/bin/bell/sounds`
# DESC: Load bell sound to pulseaudio.
# CALL: Call with "load-default-bell" (no parameters)
#       Does not work in "~/.profile" as some users suggest
#       Works in "Startup Applications" locatable by "Dash"
# DATE: Created Sep 30 2016.
# UPDT: Oct 1 2016 - Play new bell sound after load to pulseaudio.
#       Oct 2 2016 - bell-select-menu has been created to manage default.

# NOTE: Use Nautilus or Terminal Menu to copy desired <sound>.ogg to
#       default.ogg. This sound in turn is uploaded to pulse-audio.
#       New script `bell-select-menu` will update default sound file.
#       Name of the game is to replace annoying motherboard speaker
#       beep which is a regression in Ubuntu 16.04.

pactl upload-sample /usr/local/bin/bell/sounds/default.ogg bell.ogg
printf '\a' # play new bell sound

Coinciding with the new script above the Startup Applications described above was changed to look like this:

The final step was to create a bash menu to play all sounds, listen to a single sound and update last listened to single sound to the default. The menu design was taken from this askubuntu quesiton: Create bash menu based on file list (map files to numbers). If you like my menu you should go to that question and up-vote that author's answer.

$cat /usr/local/bin/bell-select-menu
#! /bin/bash

# NAME: bell-select-menu
# PATH: /usr/local/bin
# DESC: Present menu of bell sounds to listen to all, listen to one and update default.
# CALL: bell-select-menu
# DATE: Created Oct 1, 2016.

echo "The following /usr/local/bin/bell/sounds were found"

# set the prompt used by select, replacing "#?"
PS3="'a' to hear to all files, use number to hear a single file, 
'u' to update last single file heard as new default, or 'q' to quit: "

lastfile="none"

# allow the user to choose a file
select filename in /usr/local/bin/bell/sounds/*.ogg

do

    # leave the loop if the user types 'q'
    if [[ "$REPLY" == q ]]; then break; fi

    # play all if the user types 'a'
    if [[ "$REPLY" == a ]] 
    then 
        playall-bells
        continue
    fi

    # update last file name as new default if the user types 'u'
    if [[ "$REPLY" == u ]]
    then
        if [[ "$lastfile" == none ]]
        then
            echo "No file was selected."
            break
        fi
        echo "$lastfile selected"
        cp $lastfile /usr/local/bin/bell/sounds/default.ogg
        load-default-bell
        break
    fi

    # complain if no file was selected, and loop to ask again
    if [[ "$filename" == "" ]]
    then
        echo "'$REPLY' is not a valid number"
        continue
    else
        lastfile="$filename"
    fi

    # listen to the selected file
    ogg123 "$filename"

    # loop back to ask for another
    continue
done

The drawback of this design is when you select play all the menu scrolls off the screen and you need to scroll back the window to see the options again.

Phew that's it.