Best volume indicator OSD for linux

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mirkorm
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2018 2:41 pm

Best volume indicator OSD for linux

Post by mirkorm »

It's a few months I've been using lubuntu and I'm pretty happy with it, the problem for me is that it appears it doesn't have a pre-installed volume OSD.

What I'm looking for is a feedback pop-up volume bar that appears anytime I change volume on my PC seakers up or down, just like a tv (https://cnet2.cbsistatic.com/img/gD5-W1 ... nner_1.jpg) or the ugly but working Windows 10's one (http://thewindowsclub.thewindowsclubco. ... ows-10.jpg).

Looking through the web for a Lubuntu OSD I found mostly old threads and some solutions required the OSD to be launched everytime, but I'm looking for something or someway to make it run automatically on start up since most of the time when I don't use my PC for my job I use it as a TV so I'd like it to always work whenever I hit volume up or down.

To be more specific I'm looking for an indicator that tells me what level the volume is everytime I change it, I don't need anything heavy on system (I chose the Lubuntu distro specifically for my old grumpy laptop) or with lots of additional settings with mixers or anything, I just want a visual feedback of my audio volume level whenever it is changed. When you suggest me a volume on-screen indicator, as I hope you will, some screenshots of it will be appreciated.

It's strange that there isn't much discussion about this on the web and so few and ugly choices are available; when the problem first presented itself I expected to find extensive lists ranking the best volume OSDs for Linux since, as I understand, not all distros have it by design, this is an essential feature for me, I'm really wondering why Lubuntu has an OSD for brightness level and not for volume (https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/H6I0neq.png).

Thank you
seppalta
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Re: Best volume indicator OSD for linux

Post by seppalta »

There are several desktop volume control applets available fot linux in general. Among the wmdocker (http://lxlinux.com/dock.html) applets are at least wmix and wmixer. There is also veromix:
Image
which you have to click to open. There is one that you might like, but I have forgotten its name - probably remember it in a day or two. It is a thin tube (you can control thickness) which lies along any edge of your display and has a volume indicator inside the tube which you can adjust up or down.

The best way to go (imo) is to make your own. See http://lxlinux.com/audio.html.
mirkorm
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2018 2:41 pm

Re: Best volume indicator OSD for linux

Post by mirkorm »

If I have to click on it to make it show it's not what I'm looking for since I already have a similar thing (the volume control icon on lubuntu panel).

I'm going to be more specific about the situation: I usually watch movies on media players (I use kodi) and online streaming services (I use netflix) and to adjust audio volume I use an air mouse (it's basically like a tv remote, but for pc) from my couch, which is placed several feet away from my pc.

For these reasons I need a pop up notification that automatically pops up by itself and hides back after a few seconds (just like tv and windows and the lubuntu brightness level notification as I said before).

Concerning the fact of programming one by myself, I'm very new to linux so I don't have the knowledge to do it yet, but I really hope there are available options.

Come one, hasn't anybody using lubuntu, arch linux, xubuntu and any other linux distro with no audio level osd actually ever felt the need of a visual feedback for volume level when you adjust it?

Thanks

PS I tried to install volwheel using various methods and i haven't benn able to be able to make it work so: if you have ever been able to install in lubuntu, please help me, maybe you can suggest me some tips for know lubuntu issue with volwheel (I compiled the arc file to tar.gz and tried to install it, but after that when I try to run it nothing happens, maybe I installed it the wrong way so please help.) If you've never used it and don't know what it is, please look for it to get a better idea of what I'm looking for.
drooly
Posts: 791
Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:45 am

Re: Best volume indicator OSD for linux

Post by drooly »

lxde is lightweight.
what you ask for is not.
if you need it so badly, you should try gnome or xfce or kde.
or maybe the applications in question can be installed separately, i really wouldn't know.
mirkorm
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2018 2:41 pm

Re: Best volume indicator OSD for linux

Post by mirkorm »

I found a way to take a small step ahead on my problem but now some others popped up:

I managed to enable the volume popup in Lubuntu by installing xfce4-volumed

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install xfce4-volumed
And enabled XFCE Volume Deamon (Pulseaudio) on startup programs under Default applications for LXSession.

For a reference, this is a screenshot of the volume OSD I menaged to get https://image.ibb.co/n8ixRS/2018_02_12_ ... _scrot.png

But now the problems I encountered are these (I hope you can help me since these are more specific and detailed): it doesn't show over a full-screen window (eg. when watching movies on kodi and netflix, full-screen videos on youtube and full-screen browser with F11, which are the cases I need the volume OSD the most) and I need to shorten the duration of the pop-up notifications (now it's 10 sec which is way too much).

Thanks

UPDATE: I installed the modified notify-osd and notifyosdconfig as seen on this link but downloading the programs directly through some .deb files found online since the original sources don't have it anymore, but now the brightness OSD works alright with the timeout setting of 1 sec, but the volume notification, after 1 sec flickers and starts again, and after another 1 sec flickers again and restart lasting 3 secs total, why is that, why is the volume notification that corrupted, is there a file I have to manually change the code to or another way to fix it? anyway the notifications still don't show over a full screen application so it's still useless to me. How can I change that? I read that programmers chose to only show critical notification over full-screen apps because people kept worrying about useless notification that kept popping up while using a full-screen program, but I read too that brightness, battery and volume level notifications are all marked as critical by default, so there should be a way to either check if what I want to see is set to critical whit a way to change that, or a way to force a notification over full-screen.
Last edited by mirkorm on Mon Feb 12, 2018 4:34 pm, edited 2 times in total.
seppalta
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Re: Best volume indicator OSD for linux

Post by seppalta »

I generally use vlc to watch movies, online or otherwise. Just moving the mouse brings up the vlc panel control, which has a volume control on it - the green triangle in the lower right of included photo. Adjust the volume, drop the mouse and a few seconds later, the panel disappears. Most players known to me are similarly endowed.
Image
mirkorm
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Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2018 2:41 pm

Re: Best volume indicator OSD for linux

Post by mirkorm »

Wow, I knew lubuntu was LIGHTWEIGHT, meaning it has little pre-installed junk and the pre-installed one is actually light on system and useful, but I didn't think of it to be LIMITED, I thought I could install and manage whatever I wanted within it.

I don't know why my htpc environment seems so hard to understand: I'm several feet away from the pc screen while I use it, so it's not something I'm going to do to try to change volume with the vlc bar taking aim with the air mouse from feet away from the screen and still trying to not be distracted from the movie everytime I adjust volume, I mean come on, would you ever use your tv as in the 60s that you had to go to the tv every time you wanted to adjust the volume. The air mouseImage works like a wifi keyboard so I use keyboard keys to adjust the audio level, and I'm not even going to use vlc since I use netflix and youtube.com/tv most of the times and sometimes I use kodi that has most features I need that vlc doesn't.

I wasn't really thinking about a so easy feature not being present in an operating system used by a lot of people, even my first mobile phone that supported video playback (and I'm talking about early 2000s) had a volume bar that popped up while adjusting volume even on full screen. How is it possible no lubuntu user has ever watched a movie on their computer screen and used keyboard keys to change volume and wanted to see at what level the volume was at that moment? Damn, if you ever visited a living room since the 80s the viewing experience has always been like that.
seppalta
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Re: Best volume indicator OSD for linux

Post by seppalta »

OK, have it your way. I guess I'm very "80ish", to be precise 81, and I'm comfortable watching movies from across the room on my 40" TV screen, controlled with a 2000 logitech anywhere-mouse on my lap to adjust VLC. I suppose that I could use the tv control, as illustrated by your extra-large image, to adjust volume, except I don't use the TV volume, but rather use a 1966 Legato Compact speaker system containing 2 15" woofers wired in through an old, but still functional, stereo receiver amp attached to a well-seasoned old laptop. It is hard to teach old dogs new tricks!

I think an LXDE desktop is limited only to the extent that its user is limited, to wit http://lxlinux.com/.

I fail to see any significant difference between a pop-up vlc control panel with a volume control and just a pop-up volume bar. As a matter of fact, the VLC control panel is actually superior because it offers additional functions.

Please consider this subject closed.
mirkorm
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2018 2:41 pm

Re: Best volume indicator OSD for linux

Post by mirkorm »

That is not a tv remote, it's an air mouse, it's meant for pcs, It's the same thing as having a full size keyboard and mouse on the lap but is tv remote shaped. If you are an 80s guy how could you be more comfortable trying to move the mouse on your lap or the the couch surface (I really can't think of a practical way of moving an actual pc mouse while laid down on the couch) or trying to take aim with the air mouse instead of using the volume buttons of the air mouse or a wifi keyboard.

I'm sorry lubuntu users have not thought of finding a way to fix notify-osd and force it to send notifications over full screen apps, or wrote or found any other notification daemon that is more customizable than the default one, and why the default one is not customizable in the first place? I don't think a lightweight control panel and two lines of code will make the system heavier in any real way.

I think this is a very basic feature.
drooly
Posts: 791
Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:45 am

Re: Best volume indicator OSD for linux

Post by drooly »

god, this sort of whining is so annoying.
there's hundreds of linux distros listed on distrowatch alone, i'm sure you can find something that fits your bill, so quit complaining and do something about it.
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