Gvtray: A volume control for your system tray
August 15, 2007 at 12:39 pm | Posted in programs, tips and tricks | 16 CommentsTags: gvtray, mixer, plugin, system tray, volume, xfce, xfce4, xubuntu
UPDATE:
this guide is no longer necessary IMO. I’ve solved my volume control problems by dragging the Volume Control plugin from the item list to the panel. Simple, but it works.
I have problems with the default Volume Control plugin in Xubuntu, so this is a useful solution. It displays the volume percent, and can be turned up or down using the mousewheel.
1) First, open up the terminal and get the necessary programs:
sudo apt-get install python-alsaaudio python-gnome2-extras
wget http://gtk-tray-utils.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/gvtray-1.1.tar.gz
2) Extract gvtray-1.1.tar.gz and go into the newly created directory:
tar -xvf gvtray-1.1.tar.gz
cd gvtray-1.1
3) Run all of the following commands:
sudo mkdir /usr/share/gvtray
sudo cp gvtray /usr/bin
sudo cp gvtray.py /usr/share/gvtray/
sudo cp -r gvtray_about/ /usr/share/gvtray/gvtray_about
4) Now test it out:
gvtray
And there it is, a volume control in the system tray. You will get an error message in the terminal; just ignore it.
Hope this program is useful!
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Could you tell us what was wrong with the default Volume Control panel item?
What are gvtray’s advantages?
Comment by StrangeQuark— August 17, 2007 #
I have a detailed Launchpad report of it all here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xfce4-mixer/+bug/90261
Quite simply, it doesn’t load. And every time it does, it never does again. The advantage to gvtray is that it…well, loads. 😉
Comment by xubuntu— August 17, 2007 #
😀
I see.
Well, I guess I don’t need it then. 🙂
Comment by StrangeQuark— August 18, 2007 #
You may not, but another advantage is that it can be used in IceWM/Openbox 😀
Comment by xubuntu— August 18, 2007 #
nice 🙂
Comment by lubuntu— August 19, 2007 #
I am very underwhelmed by gvtray. It took me a while to get it installed (because I was missing the python-gnome2-extras package), and the interface is pretty ugly.
I have my Thinkpad’s media keys mapped to amixer set Master x+/- and gvtray does not recognize that the volume has changed when I press the media keys (but at least it does change volume on mouse wheel).
I ended up installing Gnome’s volume control applet via xfapplet. It’s still not great, because I can’t see fine grained volume level information (how do Gnome users even begin to put up with this stuff?), but it’s still a step above gvtray.
Comment by min.huang@alumni.usc.edu— August 22, 2007 #
It’s slick, but sound still doesn’t work.
😥
Comment by Iain Cheyne— August 24, 2007 #
Just what I needed — and very easy to follow instructions! Appreciated!
Comment by ET— August 27, 2007 #
I’m trying it, as I have trouble with sound on my ThinkPad R60 and it might help to try something new – sometimes my sound works poorly, sometimes not at all. And I wondered where the heck the volume control was.
But 27.6 MB extra space required? (first step). Seems a lot for a volume control…?
Comment by Chriswaterguy— August 31, 2007 #
27.6? Mine comes to about 4. Maybe you should try it without python-gnome2-extras?
Comment by xubuntu— August 31, 2007 #
I did everything described above for my Xubuntu but I don’t see any Volume Control icon or console.. And I get this error message in the Terminal:
“you need the alsaaudio python module”
Where do I Get that?
and/or do I just need to reboot or find the icon somewhere (else)?
Comment by Nathan— December 28, 2007 #
Nice Application!
Use in Fluxbox.
Comment by Ren— March 31, 2008 #
Thank you so much! For some reason, I can not get a volume controller in Xubuntu Jaunty, and this is perfect. Solves many a headache.
Kudos
Comment by Chris— July 31, 2009 #
Thanks for the info on this. I upgraded to the Karmic beta and the only volume control icon they offer in GNOME depends on PulseAudio, which I don’t use. Wasn’t happy about that.
Comment by Danny— October 14, 2009 #
this is very interesting article. many knowledge to new user.
Comment by HPCLprinter— June 24, 2011 #
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