XMMS Volume Control provides three patches for XMMS that enable users to control the volume using multimedia keyboard buttons.
XMMS can be controlled from the command line to do a lot of things, so configuring it with xbindkeys was straightforward. To do this, I specified the programs to run when I press a particular key on my keyboard. For example, I set the following commands for the corresponding actions:
- prev: xmms --rew
- next: xmms --fwd
- play: xmms --play
- pause: xmms --pause
- stop: xmms --stop
- volume up: ???
- volume down: ???
As you can see, all the buttons allow me to do something useful except change the volume. To adjust the volume, I have to use my mouse or adjust the speakers manually. However, I was impressed with the cleanliness of XMMS's source code when I looked it over, and I decided to add the code to recognize two new options and make them work. I patched three files to create two new command-line options:
- --vol-up (-l == Louder)
- --vol-down (-q == Quieter)
Overall, I found the combination of Debian GNU/Linux, XMMS, and xbindkeys to be a powerful and flexible setup for controlling multimedia functions with my keyboard.