One click sound switch in KDE

Motivation

It is teadious to go into sound settings, navigate through layers of setting pages and try to switch to a sound output port that you like.

In addition to the annoyance mentioned above, some laptops do not allow switching to internal speakers once a headphone is plugged into its internal headphone jack. The internal speaker will simply go mute.

This is the post to address these two inconveniences in our daily linux life.

This guide will be in following sections:

• pre-requisites on Manjaro (the one I am using)
• disable auto-mute function
• set audio source and sink using command line
• link to an entry in QuickLauncher in KDE Plasma

Pre-requisite

• alsa-utils
• pulseaudio

Disable auto-mute internal speaker

The amixer from alsa-utils can be used to disable auto-mute.

A systemd unit file was created and enabled for user so that auto-mute will be disabled on every boot and does not require root privileges.

Create a systemd unit file at $HOME/.config/systemd/user/disable-auto-mute.service:

[Unit]
Description=Disable ALSA Auto-Mote Mode, able to switch between speaker and headphones

[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=true
ExecStart=/usr/bin/amixer -c PCH sset 'Auto-Mute Mode' Disabled
ExecStop=/usr/bin/amixer -c PCH sset 'Auto-Mute Mode' Enabled
StandardOutput=journal

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Then start and enable it:

systemctl --user start disable-auto-mute
systemctl --user enable disable-auto-mute

Set audio source and sink using command line

pacmd in package pulseaudio let us control audio devices in command line.

First, explore your audio configuration by running:

pacmd info

The following truncated output is my audio configuration:

******
1 card(s) available.
    index: 0
        name: <alsa_card.pci-0000_00_1f.3>
        driver: <module-alsa-card.c>
        owner module: 6
        properties:
        ******
        profiles:
                ******
                output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Analog Stereo Duplex (priority 6565, available: unknown)
                output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo: Digital Stereo (HDMI) Output + Analog Stereo Input (priority 5965, available: unknown)
                ******
        active profile: <output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo>
        sinks:
                alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo/#0: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
        sources:
                alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo.monitor/#0: Monitor of Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
                alsa_input.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo/#1: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
        ports:
                analog-input-internal-mic: Internal Microphone (priority 8900, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
                        properties:
                                device.icon_name = "audio-input-microphone"
                ******
                analog-output-speaker: Speakers (priority 10000, latency offset 0 usec, available: unknown)
                        properties:
                                device.icon_name = "audio-speakers"
                analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority 9000, latency offset 0 usec, available: yes)
                        properties:
                                device.icon_name = "audio-headphones"
                hdmi-output-0: HDMI / DisplayPort (priority 5900, latency offset 0 usec, available: no)
                        properties:
                                device.icon_name = "video-display"
                ******

The available commands can be shown by running

pacmd help

We are going to use:

• set-card-profile: switch between HDMI profile and internal analog-stereo profile
• set-sink-port: switch between internal speakers and headphones

Switch to HDMI audio output

#!/bin/bash
pacmd set-card-profile 0 output:hdmi-stereo+input:analog-stereo

Switch to internal stereo speaker output

#!/bin/bash
# set to XPS internal sound card
pacmd set-card-profile 0 output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo

# set to speaker output
pacmd set-sink-port 0 analog-output-speaker

Switch to internal headphones output

#!/bin/bash
# set to XPS internal sound card
pacmd set-card-profile 0 output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo

# set to headphones output
pacmd set-sink-port 0 analog-output-headphones

Save the above scripts into individual executable files. e.g.

• ~/scripts/sound-switch_to_hdmi.sh
• ~/scripts/sound-switch_to_speakers.sh
• ~/scripts/sound-switch_to_headphones.sh

Link to an entry in QuickLauncher in KDE Plasma

• Add Widgets > QuickLauncher
• Locate executable scripts
• change icon if necessary

Click and profit.