Enabling KWin's Sound Effects
KDE's default window manager, KWin, has a lot of useful features… and then it has some that are fun but useless. A particular example of uselessness is the ability to have sound effects for most of your generic window operations such as minimizing and maximizing and switching between desktops. These may get annoying for some, but I happen to rather like them. Here's how if you would like to give them a shot. However, you may not want to try this on lower spec systems.
1. Open the KDE Control Center. (See this article if you are Kubuntu)
2. On the left, navigate to Sound and Multimedia and then System Notifications.
3. On the right, under Event Source, select The KDE Window Manager.
4. Now you can click to Turn On All Sounds to get all of the sound effects at once. Then click Apply.
Alternatively, you can go through and manually select sounds for each different operation. KDE does not have sounds specified for every possible option, although your distribution may. I suggest you fine tune it doesn't become all that annoying.
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–> I suggest you fine tune it doesn't become all that annoying.
I just did a good thing for myself and installed Kubuntu on my main work desktop. Windows is way more stable now, running in a vm, with a backup copy so when it fails again (usually within a few short months), I can start over in the vm.
I haven't used KDE in a while and was immediately disappointed to hear that KDE has *noises*. After all the ranting I've done about Windows noises, I have to hear them from my linux desktop? The speed with which I reached for the mouse to turn these off cannot be measured.
A coworker showed me a KDE4 preview today. The eye candy seems to be getting worse. Has KDE moved its headquarters to Redmond, WA?
Is it just me?
I have to go now. Update keeps bugging me to install Compiz files.
P.S. Thanks for an informative blog.
Jake - dumb Linux noob question here, I suspect… I'd like to have the sound effects, *and* flashy visual effects (Compiz Fusion) too.
Is this possible? My first though is that kwin is responsible for playing the sounds and since Compiz replaces it, they'd not be played, correct?
I just did exactly what you instructed on my own, to try to turn them OFF….
…. Didn't make a lick of difference, still looking for something that does
So yeah I hate the noise pollution.
What I do like is that the poster's Operating system and Browser are guessed and displayed as little badges. Very cool. i implemented something similar recently somewhere (largely someone else's work, like a plugin)