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Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2013 14:00:46 -0600 (MDT)
From: Warren Block <wblock@wonkity.com>
To: Frank Leonhardt <frank2@fjl.co.uk>
Subject: Re: How do I ring a bell?
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On Mon, 7 Oct 2013, Frank Leonhardt wrote:
> On 07/10/2013 13:06, Peter Boosten wrote:
>>
>> echo "CTRL-V CTRL-G" should do the trick

Or, more easily, printf "\a".

> Alas, not. The console driver won't ring the BIOS bell on anything I've 
> tried. It might on a desktop with a built-in sound card and speakers, but it 
> won't do anything with the "beep" speaker. It's actually the same solution I 
> mentioned in the first line (\a translates to 007 which is ctrl-G).

Make sure hw.syscons.bell is set to 1.  It can be changed at run time, 
like in /etc/sysctl.conf.  Some systems have it disabled (set to 0) 
because the bell is amazingly loud and piercing.  (Looking at you, 
Dell.)