Intro

Booting Debian takes a while, so I wanted to have it beep, when it's ready for use. Also, as I turn off the nslu2 via a remote control command, I like to know if it's actually started to shut down.

Script

Put a script like the following in /etc/init.d/beep and link it in /etc/rc?.d with update-rc.d beep defaults 99 04

 #! /bin/sh
 ### BEGIN INIT INFO
 # Provides:          beep
 # Required-Start:
 # Required-Stop:
 # Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
 # Default-Stop:      S 0 1 6
 # Short-Description: Beeps that indicate startup and shutdown
 ### END INIT INFO

 # Do NOT "set -e"

 # PATH should only include /usr/* if it runs after the mountnfs.sh script
 NAME=beep
 BEEP=/usr/bin/$NAME
 MELODY_START="-f 65.4064 -l 100 -n -f 130.813 -l 100 -n -f 261.626 -l 100 -n -f 523.251 -l 100 -n -f 1046.50 -l 100 -n -f 2093.00 -l 100 -n -f 4186.01 -l 100"
 MELODY_STOP="-f 523.251 -l 100 -D 100 -n -f 391.995 -l 100 -D 100 -n -f 329.628 -l 100 -D 100 -n -f 261.626 -l 200"
 SCRIPTNAME=/etc/init.d/$NAME
 ARGS="-e /dev/input/event0"

 # Exit if the package is not installed
 [ -x "$BEEP" ] || exit 0

 case "$1" in
   start)
         $BEEP $ARGS $MELODY_START
         ;;
   stop)
         $BEEP $ARGS $MELODY_STOP
         ;;
   restart|force-reload)
         # Do nothing
         ;;
   *)
         echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|restart|force-reload}" >&2
         exit 3
         ;;
 esac

Note: This Howto is also applicable for SlugOS. On Debian, /usr/bin/beep is installed by the "beep" package.

Using leds

Alternatively make BEEP="/usr/bin/leds" and ARGS="beep" if you have nslu2-utils installed as well.

Problems

Did not work for me. Running the script works flawless but it won't beep on boot or shutdown. I'm using NSLU2 Stable 4.0r3.

Shame on me: I simply forgot to do a chmod 755 beep .

Play tones from a file

I hacked together a simple bash script that plays the notes from a file, instead of having to specify them as arguments.

 #! /bin/bash
 # slugtunes.sh - Play simple notes via the nslu2 speaker
 # Usage: slugtunes.sh notes.txt
 # notes.txt is a tab delimited file with the following format
 # freq(hz)	duration(ms)	delay(ms)
 # lines beginning with #'s are treated as comments
 #
 # Copyright Rajiv Narayan, 12.19.2008
 # Based on the leds script in nslu2-utils debian package

 BEEP="/usr/bin/beep"
 if [ ! -f "$1" ]; then
	echo "Usage: $0 notes.txt"
	exit 1
 else
	declare -a notes
	arg=
	#read tunes
	notes=(`grep -v '^#' $1`)
	nnotes=$((${#notes[*]}/3))

	if [ -x $BEEP ];
	then
		#search for speaker device
		devices=`ls -d /sys/class/input/event*`
		for device in $devices
		do
			module=`egrep PHYSDEVDRIVER $device'/uevent' | cut -d '=' -f 2`
			if test "$module" = "ixp4xx-beeper";
			then
				devname=`basename "$device"`
				arg="-e /dev/input/"$devname
				break
			fi
		done
		# play tunes
		for i in $(seq 1 $nnotes) 
		do 
			st=$((($i-1)*3)) 
			$BEEP $arg -f ${notes[$st]} -l ${notes[$(($st+1))]} -d ${notes[$(($st+2))]} 2>/dev/null 
		done
	else
		echo "$BEEP not found"
	fi
 fi

Sample input file

 # Beethoven's Für Elise
 # freq(hz)	length(ms)	pause(ms)
 659	120	120
 622	120	120
 659	120	120
 622	120	120
 659	120	120
 494	120	120
 587	120	120
 523	120	120
 440	120	140

Play Nokia RTTL Ringtone from a file

Here's a tcl script that plays Nokia RTTL (Ring Tone Transfer Language) ring tones from a file as beeps. You need tcl installed but that's just an apt-get away for a Debian user:

  #! /usr/bin/env tclsh
  # nokia2beeps.tcl - Play an RTTL ringtone file as beeps
  # Usage: ./nokia2beeps.tcl ringtone_file
  set default_octave 4
  set default_duration 4
  set default_beat 100
  set base_time 200000

  array set scale {
    C0   16.35    C#0  17.32    Db0  17.32    D0   18.35    D#0  19.45    Eb0  19.45
    E0   20.60    F0   21.83    F#0  23.12    Gb0  23.12    G0   24.50    G#0  25.96
    Ab0  25.96    A0   27.50    A#0  29.14    Bb0  29.14    B0   30.87    C1   32.70
    C#1  34.65    Db1  34.65    D1   36.71    D#1  38.89    Eb1  38.89    E1   41.20
    F1   43.65    F#1  46.25    Gb1  46.25    G1   49.00    G#1  51.91    Ab1  51.91
    A1   55.00    A#1  58.27    Bb1  58.27    B1   61.74    C2   65.41    C#2  69.30
    Db2  69.30    D2   73.42    D#2  77.78    Eb2  77.78    E2   82.41    F2   87.31
    F#2  92.50    Gb2  92.50    G2   98.00    G#2  103.83   Ab2  103.83   A2   110.00
    A#2  116.54   Bb2  116.54   B2   123.47   C3   130.81   C#3  138.59   Db3  138.59
    D3   146.83   D#3  155.56   Eb3  155.56   E3   164.81   F3   174.61   F#3  185.00
    Gb3  185.00   G3   196.00   G#3  207.65   Ab3  207.65   A3   220.00   A#3  233.08
    Bb3  233.08   B3   246.94   C4   261.63   C#4  277.18   Db4  277.18   D4   293.66
    D#4  311.13   Eb4  311.13   E4   329.63   F4   349.23   F#4  369.99   Gb4  369.99
    G4   392.00   G#4  415.30   Ab4  415.30   A4   440.00   A#4  466.16   Bb4  466.16
    B4   493.88   C5   523.25   C#5  554.37   Db5  554.37   D5   587.33   D#5  622.25
    Eb5  622.25   E5   659.26   F5   698.46   F#5  739.99   Gb5  739.99   G5   783.99
    G#5  830.61   Ab5  830.61   A5   880.00   A#5  932.33   Bb5  932.33   B5   987.77
    C6   1046.50  C#6  1108.73  Db6  1108.73  D6   1174.66  D#6  1244.51  Eb6  1244.51
    E6   1318.51  F6   1396.91  F#6  1479.98  Gb6  1479.98  G6   1567.98  G#6  1661.22
    Ab6  1661.22  A6   1760.00  A#6  1864.66  Bb6  1864.66  B6   1975.53  C7   2093.00
    C#7  2217.46  Db7  2217.46  D7   2349.32  D#7  2489.02  Eb7  2489.02  E7   2637.02
    F7   2793.83  F#7  2959.96  Gb7  2959.96  G7   3135.96  G#7  3322.44  Ab7  3322.44
    A7   3520.00  A#7  3729.31  Bb7  3729.31  B7   3951.07  C8   4186.01  C#8  4434.92
    Db8  4434.92  D8   4698.64  D#8  4978.03  Eb8  4978.03
  }

  proc nokia2scale {note} {
    global default_octave
    set note [string toupper [regexp -inline {[a-gA-GpP].*} $note]]
    if {$note != "P" && ![regexp {\d$} $note]} {
      append note $default_octave
    }
    set note [string map {. ""} $note]
    return $note
  }

  proc nokia2length {note} {
    global default_duration default_beat base_time
    set duration [regexp -inline {^\d+} $note]
    if {$duration == ""} {
      set duration $default_duration
    }
    return [expr {$base_time/$default_beat/$duration}]
  }

  proc playnote {note} {
    global scale

    set note [string trim $note]
    if {$note == ""} return

    puts -nonewline "$note "   
    flush stdout

    set delay [nokia2length $note]
    set note  [nokia2scale  $note]

    if {$note == "P"} {
      after $delay
    } else {
      exec beep -f $scale($note) -l $delay
    }
  }

  proc playRTTL {str} {
    global default_octave default_beat default_duration

    foreach x [regexp -inline -all {[dob]=\d+} $str] {
      regexp {(\w)=(\d+)} $x -> param value
      switch $param {
        d {set default_duration $value}
        o {set default_octave   $value}
        b {set default_beat   $value}
      }
    }

    regexp {\:([^\:]+)$} $str -> str
    puts "beat: $default_beat"

    foreach x [split $str ,] {
      playnote $x
    }
    puts done.
  }

  set f [open [lindex $argv 0]]
  set data [read $f]
  close $f

  playRTTL $data

Sample RTTL file (Jingle Bells)

  JingleBells:d=4,o=5,b=125:8g,8e6,8d6,8c6,2g,8g,8e6,8d6,8c6,2a,8a,8f6,8e6,
  8d6,8b,8g,8b,8d6,8g.6,16g6,8f6,8d6,2e6,8g,8e6,8d6,8c6,2g,16f#,8g,8e6,
  8d6,8c6,2a,8a,8f6,8e6,8d6,8g6,16g6,16f#6,16g6,16f#6,16g6,16g#6,8a.6,
  16g6,8e6,8d6,c6,g6,8e6,8e6,8e.6,16d#6,8e6,8e6,8e.6,16d#6,8e6,8g6,8c.6,
  16d6,2e6,8f6,8f6,8f.6,16f6,8f6,8e6,8e6,16e6,16e6,8e6,8d6,8d6,8e6,2d6