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Possible Duplicate:
Beep in shell script not working?

When using the Terminal application in Ubuntu I never seem to hear any alerts. How do I turn these sounds on?

I've tried looking in Edit > Profile Preferences and confirming that "Terminal Bell" is checked (which it is.) I've also checked System > Preferences > Sound and I'm using the default Ubuntu them with the "Alert Volume" cranked. Music and video sound fine.

To simulate a bell I've tried irssi, typing echo -e "\a", hitting tab and backspace but nothing seems to make a sound.

How do I fix this?

Gabriel Staples
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Mark B
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    Here's the most complete answer I've seen. – jpaugh Nov 08 '17 at 22:39
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    A terminal bell isn't the same as a system beep...this should not be marked as a duplicate. See note in the other question. – jvriesem May 24 '18 at 23:00
  • @jvriesem, what do you mean? Both questions use echo -e "\a" to test if it is working or not, so how are they not the same? – Gabriel Staples Jun 25 '20 at 17:31
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    @GabrielStaples: A terminal bell is what echo -e "\a" should produce. A terminal bell goes to the output speakers like any other sound, and it is affected by the system volume. Terminals often have a setting to flash the terminal window instead of an audible terminal bell. A system beep uses the internal computer speaker, separate from the output speaker -- it's the 8-bit sound you may hear when a PC boots up -- and you don't control the volume. I believe that when I commented, the question somebody thought this was a duplicate of was talking about system beeps, not terminal bells. – jvriesem Jun 26 '20 at 17:33

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