ThinkPad mute button
Problem
The mute button does not work properly on most ThinkPads and IdeaPads with a newer kernel. Two different scenarios occur:
Nothing works
The Button does not react at all: no led flash (some ThinkPads have an LED, indicating the Mute-State) and no effect on Speakers Volume. It only mutes, if you first press the mute button and afterwards the Vol-Down-Key.
External Audio still on
Pressing the button causes the speakers to mute (LED also works), but external audio is still on.
Solution
Older IBM ThinkPads
First see https://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Mute_button.
Nothing works
Edit your /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf
and add the following line:
/etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf
... options thinkpad_acpi enabled=0 # enables Mute-Button on ThinkPads with IdeaPad-Firmware
reboot, and go on.
External Audio still on
Install tpbAUR from the AUR and create an file /root/.tpbrc
:
/root/.tpbrc
#tpb-Settings: CALLBACK "/root/tp-key-handler" OSD off
Now create the file /root/tp-key-handler
:
/root/tp-key-handler
#!/bin/bash echo $1 $2 if [ $1 = mute ]; then if [ $2 = on ]; then mset="off"; else mset="on"; fi sudo -u USERNAME amixer sset Master $mset; # I had to sudo to me, because I use PulseAudio fi
you will have to add execute-rights to /root/tp-key-handler
:
# chmod +x /root/tp-key-handler
Since tpb needs root-privileges as well as X, you may start it by adding sudo tpb
in the .xinitrc
and editing your sudo-Settings (use visudo
) or addin gksudo tpb
in any X-Startscript (the last will ask for an password on startup).
External Audio still on (and you use XFCE)
Go to the Applications > Settings > Keyboard > Application Shortcuts tab. Hit Add and for the command, use amixer sset Master toggle
. For the key, hit the mute button. Protip, to make sure the LED state is correct, start with the LED in the opposite state of your mutedness so that when you map the button, it starts out in the correct state. Alternatively, you could just reboot and make sure the led is off before you get into your Xfce session.