Any volume control applet for openbox?

Folks,

Environment: Ubuntu 14.04 minimal + openbox. It is a development box. Audio is based on alsa.

I love the lightweightness of openbox. I don't even use tint2 as I feel it doesn't add much value. For the system tray, I just use a lightweight app called docker.

The only thing I am missing is a lightweight volume control applet that can go into the system tray.

I saw an application called volume icon that might fit the bill:

However, am I not sure if it is being actively developed.

I am wondering if you have a suggest for a volume control applet that is lightweight and is developed somewhat actively.

If needed, I can stoop down to using tint2.

Regards,
Peter

3 Answers

EDIT MAY 16 2015

Since upgrading to 15.04, gnome-control-center has been misbehaving and gnome-sound-applet disappeared, so I've decided to search for other alternatives, and found volti. Works pretty much the same, still being launched from my ~/.config/openbox/autostart file

Tools to install

1. gnome-control-center
2. gnome-alsamixer
3. tint2 panel

Option 1: gnome-alsamixer

Gnome Alsamixer is a graphical front end for alsamixer ( the ncurses-based command line utility for sound control ). Install it via apt-get and add gnome-alsamixer.desktop to the tint2 panel. (see my tint2rc file bellow).

Option 2: gnome-sound-applet

If you have gnome-control-center installed, you may use the sound indicator/applet. Install the gnome-control-center and add a line gnome-sound-applet & to your .config/openbox/autostart file.

Option 3: use razor-panel

Razor panel has its own sound indicator and is part of razorqt desktop environment, but may be installed independently. Download it using sudo apt-get install razor-panel . To autostart it, add razor-panel & to your .config/openbox/autostart file.

Option 4: Pulse Audio Volume Control

The name describes what it is aptly enough. Simply, right click on the desktop , go to Debian -> Applications -> Sound -> pavucontrol.

My .config/openbox/autostart file

# set background feh --bg-fill /home/xieerqi/.local/share/wallpapers/ben.jpg & # start tint2 panel tint2 & # start razor-panel # razor-panel & # start gnome-sound-applet gnome-sound-applet & 

My .config/tint2/tint2rc file

# Tint2 config file # Generated by tintwizard () # For information on manually configuring tint2 see # Background definitions # ID 1 rounded = 7 border_width = 2 background_color = #000000 60 border_color = #FFFFFF 16 # ID 2 rounded = 5 border_width = 0 background_color = #FFFFFF 40 border_color = #FFFFFF 48 # ID 3 rounded = 5 border_width = 0 background_color = #FFFFFF 16 border_color = #FFFFFF 68 # Panel panel_items = LTSBC panel_monitor = all panel_position = bottom center horizontal panel_size = 85% 50 panel_margin = 0 0 panel_padding = 7 0 7 panel_dock = 0 wm_menu = 1 panel_layer = top panel_background_id = 1 # Panel Autohide autohide = 0 autohide_show_timeout = 0.3 autohide_hide_timeout = 2 autohide_height = 2 strut_policy = follow_size # Taskbar taskbar_mode = single_desktop taskbar_padding = 2 3 2 taskbar_background_id = 0 taskbar_active_background_id = 0 # Tasks urgent_nb_of_blink = 8 task_icon = 1 task_text = 0 task_centered = 1 task_maximum_size = 140 35 task_padding = 6 2 task_background_id = 3 task_active_background_id = 2 task_urgent_background_id = 2 task_iconified_background_id = 3 task_tooltip = 0 # Task Icons task_icon_asb = 70 0 0 task_active_icon_asb = 100 0 0 task_urgent_icon_asb = 100 0 0 task_iconified_icon_asb = 70 0 0 # Fonts task_font = sans 7 task_font_color = #FFFFFF 68 task_active_font_color = #FFFFFF 83 task_urgent_font_color = #FFFFFF 83 task_iconified_font_color = #FFFFFF 68 font_shadow = 0 # System Tray systray = 1 systray_padding = 4 2 3 systray_sort = ascending systray_background_id = 0 systray_icon_size = 35 systray_icon_asb = 70 0 0 # Clock time1_format = %H:%M time1_font = sans 8 time2_format = %A %d %B time2_font = sans 6 clock_font_color = #FFFFFF 74 clock_padding = 1 0 clock_background_id = 0 clock_rclick_command = orage # Tooltips tooltip_padding = 2 2 tooltip_show_timeout = 0.7 tooltip_hide_timeout = 0.3 tooltip_background_id = 1 tooltip_font = sans 10 tooltip_font_color = #000000 80 # Mouse mouse_middle = none mouse_right = close mouse_scroll_up = toggle mouse_scroll_down = iconify # Battery battery = 1 battery_low_status = 10 battery_low_cmd = notify-send "battery low" battery_hide = 98 bat1_font = sans 8 bat2_font = sans 6 battery_font_color = #FFFFFF 74 battery_padding = 1 0 battery_background_id = 0 # Launchers # launcher_padding = 5 0 10 launcher_background_id = 9 launcher_icon_size = 45 launcher_item_app = /home/xieerqi/.config/autostart/firefox.desktop # launcher_item_app = /some/where/anotherapplication.desktop launcher_item_app = /home/xieerqi/.config/autostart/gnome-terminal.desktop launcher_item_app = /home/xieerqi/.config/tint2/backlight.desktop # launcher_item_app = /home/xieerqi/.local/share/applications/backlight.desktop launcher_item_app = /usr/share/applications/gnome-alsamixer.desktop # End of config 

Note about config files

You may want to reboot or at least do sudo service lightdm restart from TTY1 in order to enable changes done to the config files

How the set up might look

PNMixer is another alternative, it's a fairly complete and configurable sound applet. It's been around for a while now, and it's well maintained.

There's an Ubuntu package here:

For the latest version, please visit the GitHub page:

Disclaimer: I'm a developer of PNMixer.

Another option is the "volumeicon" package. It is a sytemtray icon, it is quite simple it does what must be done.