5 ms·

Show HN: Push-to-Talk for Pulseaudio

71 points by JetSpiegel 6y ago

JetSpiegel 6y ago
Push-to-Talk with libinput + Pulseaudio
aantix 6y ago
But... what is it?
- JetSpiegel 6y ago
  Push-to-Talk, but works at Pulseaudio level, so it works on all apps at once. It has a single global "walkie-talkie button" that mutes and unmutes the microphone (I use the Windows key). Very useful for remote work: - you can type on mechanical keyboards during calls without annoying your co-workers - if you move away from your computer for a while, the microphone will be muted, so you avoid background noise and embarrassing situations - if you un-mute the microphone without touching the trigger key, it will remain un-muted. In case you want to have longer conversations. Touching the trigger key will mute it again
  - idolaspecus 6y ago
    I can mute my headset using a switch on the headset itself. So this project turns a key on your keyboard into such a switch?
    - choward 6y ago
      You can meet just the microphone and not the headphones? If so, that's a cool feature to have.
      - irishcoffee 6y ago
        I think it’s a pretty standard feature of the 5 or so headsets I’ve bought over the past 8-10 years. Price point: USD 25
      - idolaspecus 6y ago
        This is correct. Every headset I’ve purchased has had this feature, but I’ve only purchased gaming headsets. Edit: this is the headset https://www.astrogaming.com/en-us/products/headsets/a10-gen-1.html#tech-specs https://www.astrogaming.com/en-us/products/headsets/a10-gen-... Also, this is not an endorsement, I would actually not recommend this headset.
    - curioussavage 6y ago
      yeah my gaming headset has that but I can't see the headset so there is a tone for mute and one for unmute. I can't remember at all what is what so I don't bother
  - mongol 6y ago
    Maybe it is psychological but I really want to see current mute status visually to rely on it. Else I assume that I am not on mute. This is not really rational if the function works reliably ...
    - chrissnell 6y ago
      Add notifications to the app?
    - JetSpiegel 6y ago
      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23168784 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23168784 My Thinkpad also has microphone mute button with a LED, so I already have this. It's pretty simple to add notifications, just change this script to invoke a wrapper script that uses "notify-send" then runs "pulseaudio-ctl": notify-send "Muted: $1" pulseaudio-ctl mute-input "$1" https://gitlab.com/somini/inpulse-to-talk/-/blob/master/inpulse-to-talk https://gitlab.com/somini/inpulse-to-talk/-/blob/master/inpu...
TheSoftwareGuy 6y ago
I’ve been noticing lately that people in video meetings basically use the mute button as a convoluted ptt button. I’m glad someone else saw this
- llarsson 6y ago
  In Zoom, it's just a matter if putting it on mute and holding down Space bar to temporarily unmute. Very handy.
  - zumachase 6y ago
    We've actually just beta launched a tool to solve this exact problem. We found ourselves in a number of muted Zoom/Hangouts/GMeets for various teams/sub teams. So we built Squawk to solve this. PTT by default and end-to-end encrypted https://www.squawk.to https://www.squawk.to
- globular-toast 6y ago
  I used to do big Skype calls in the finance company I worked at several years ago and it was de rigueur to stay on mute until you wanted to talk. Most people actually did it. I always wondered why they didn't just have push to talk as it's way more convenient and less error prone. I discovered an interesting feature around muting one day as well. People used to conduct calls at their desk in the open office as there was nowhere else to go. It was awful, but worse was if I was in the same call as someone near me as I'd hear them both in my earpiece and across the room. One day it was my boss, sitting right next to me. I noticed that each caller had a mute icon next to them so I pressed his and, lo! It worked. I could no longer hear him in my earpiece. But neither could anyone else. Turns out you could remotely activate any other caller's mute button.
  - o-__-o 6y ago
    I mute by default because I don’t want to get comfortable and be surprised after preferences are lost after a reinstall or using a new computer. As someone who changes sound cards a lot, I like the global solution..
dsego 6y ago
My Thinkpad has a microphone mute button with an indicator light and it works with Ubuntu. I find it very convenient to use.
- ORioN63 6y ago
  Same. Works wonders. But I had to configure the shortcut (Setup is i3 + pulseaudio + sxhkd): /*sxhkd/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrc (lines 19-20)*/ @XF86Audio{RaiseVolume,LowerVolume,Mute,MicMute} pulseaudio-ctl {up,down,mute,mute-input}
JonAtkinson 6y ago
This seems very useful; a universal solution at the OS level makes it easier to firm the habit of using PTT rather than relying on each individual app to offer (and then need to configure) PTT. On a related note, I started using Nvidia's RTX Voice a few weeks back; I've never found anything better to remove background noise (and the noise of my mechanical keyboard). That includes some very expensive hardware solutions. It's incredible. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/guides/nvidia-rtx-voice-setup-guide/#RTX-Voice https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/guides/nvidia-rtx-voice...
- brian_herman__ 6y ago
  I’ve had people use rtx voice on discord and spam me with noise. I think it needs some work but is a great idea.
  - WolfRazu 6y ago
    I've run into this bug too. I think it's funny something made to reduce noise can make so much.
- o-__-o 6y ago
  Linux? Why not jackd, jack-rack and a simple expander/simple compressor LADSPA plug-in? http://www.penguinproducer.com/Blog/2012/01/ladspa-noise-removal/ http://www.penguinproducer.com/Blog/2012/01/ladspa-noise-rem...
aleatorisch 6y ago
This is an awesome idea. I ended up doing it without this tool and just using pulseaudio-ctl. 1. figure out the keycode for key you want to use. for me this was Scroll_Lock, so it looked like: keycode 78 (keysym 0xff14, Scroll_Lock) 2. Add the following to the i3 config: xset -r 78 # no repeat for scroll-lock pulseaudio-ctl mute-input yes # mute at startup bindsym Scroll_Lock exec pulseaudio-ctl mute-input no bindsym --release Scroll_Lock exec pulseaudio-ctl mute-input yes
- JetSpiegel 6y ago
  I'm using Sway, therefore Wayland, no `xset` here. I'm pretty sure I tested something like this first and it did not work, which I why I went to the hassle of creating this.
purplezooey 6y ago
Anybody doing it with Alsa

71 points by JetSpiegel 6y ago

JetSpiegel 6y ago

Push-to-Talk with libinput + Pulseaudio

aantix 6y ago

But... what is it?

JetSpiegel 6y ago
Push-to-Talk, but works at Pulseaudio level, so it works on all apps at once. It has a single global "walkie-talkie button" that mutes and unmutes the microphone (I use the Windows key). Very useful for remote work: - you can type on mechanical keyboards during calls without annoying your co-workers - if you move away from your computer for a while, the microphone will be muted, so you avoid background noise and embarrassing situations - if you un-mute the microphone without touching the trigger key, it will remain un-muted. In case you want to have longer conversations. Touching the trigger key will mute it again
- idolaspecus 6y ago
  I can mute my headset using a switch on the headset itself. So this project turns a key on your keyboard into such a switch?
  - choward 6y ago
    You can meet just the microphone and not the headphones? If so, that's a cool feature to have.
    - irishcoffee 6y ago
      I think it’s a pretty standard feature of the 5 or so headsets I’ve bought over the past 8-10 years. Price point: USD 25
    - idolaspecus 6y ago
      This is correct. Every headset I’ve purchased has had this feature, but I’ve only purchased gaming headsets. Edit: this is the headset https://www.astrogaming.com/en-us/products/headsets/a10-gen-1.html#tech-specs https://www.astrogaming.com/en-us/products/headsets/a10-gen-... Also, this is not an endorsement, I would actually not recommend this headset.
  - curioussavage 6y ago
    yeah my gaming headset has that but I can't see the headset so there is a tone for mute and one for unmute. I can't remember at all what is what so I don't bother
- mongol 6y ago
  Maybe it is psychological but I really want to see current mute status visually to rely on it. Else I assume that I am not on mute. This is not really rational if the function works reliably ...
  - chrissnell 6y ago
    Add notifications to the app?
  - JetSpiegel 6y ago
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23168784 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23168784 My Thinkpad also has microphone mute button with a LED, so I already have this. It's pretty simple to add notifications, just change this script to invoke a wrapper script that uses "notify-send" then runs "pulseaudio-ctl": notify-send "Muted: $1" pulseaudio-ctl mute-input "$1" https://gitlab.com/somini/inpulse-to-talk/-/blob/master/inpulse-to-talk https://gitlab.com/somini/inpulse-to-talk/-/blob/master/inpu...

TheSoftwareGuy 6y ago

I’ve been noticing lately that people in video meetings basically use the mute button as a convoluted ptt button. I’m glad someone else saw this

llarsson 6y ago
In Zoom, it's just a matter if putting it on mute and holding down Space bar to temporarily unmute. Very handy.
- zumachase 6y ago
  We've actually just beta launched a tool to solve this exact problem. We found ourselves in a number of muted Zoom/Hangouts/GMeets for various teams/sub teams. So we built Squawk to solve this. PTT by default and end-to-end encrypted https://www.squawk.to https://www.squawk.to
globular-toast 6y ago
I used to do big Skype calls in the finance company I worked at several years ago and it was de rigueur to stay on mute until you wanted to talk. Most people actually did it. I always wondered why they didn't just have push to talk as it's way more convenient and less error prone. I discovered an interesting feature around muting one day as well. People used to conduct calls at their desk in the open office as there was nowhere else to go. It was awful, but worse was if I was in the same call as someone near me as I'd hear them both in my earpiece and across the room. One day it was my boss, sitting right next to me. I noticed that each caller had a mute icon next to them so I pressed his and, lo! It worked. I could no longer hear him in my earpiece. But neither could anyone else. Turns out you could remotely activate any other caller's mute button.
- o-__-o 6y ago
  I mute by default because I don’t want to get comfortable and be surprised after preferences are lost after a reinstall or using a new computer. As someone who changes sound cards a lot, I like the global solution..

dsego 6y ago

My Thinkpad has a microphone mute button with an indicator light and it works with Ubuntu. I find it very convenient to use.

ORioN63 6y ago
Same. Works wonders. But I had to configure the shortcut (Setup is i3 + pulseaudio + sxhkd): /*sxhkd/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrc (lines 19-20)*/ @XF86Audio{RaiseVolume,LowerVolume,Mute,MicMute} pulseaudio-ctl {up,down,mute,mute-input}

JonAtkinson 6y ago

This seems very useful; a universal solution at the OS level makes it easier to firm the habit of using PTT rather than relying on each individual app to offer (and then need to configure) PTT. On a related note, I started using Nvidia's RTX Voice a few weeks back; I've never found anything better to remove background noise (and the noise of my mechanical keyboard). That includes some very expensive hardware solutions. It's incredible. https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/guides/nvidia-rtx-voice-setup-guide/#RTX-Voice https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/guides/nvidia-rtx-voice...

brian_herman__ 6y ago
I’ve had people use rtx voice on discord and spam me with noise. I think it needs some work but is a great idea.
- WolfRazu 6y ago
  I've run into this bug too. I think it's funny something made to reduce noise can make so much.
o-__-o 6y ago
Linux? Why not jackd, jack-rack and a simple expander/simple compressor LADSPA plug-in? http://www.penguinproducer.com/Blog/2012/01/ladspa-noise-removal/ http://www.penguinproducer.com/Blog/2012/01/ladspa-noise-rem...

aleatorisch 6y ago

This is an awesome idea. I ended up doing it without this tool and just using pulseaudio-ctl. 1. figure out the keycode for key you want to use. for me this was Scroll_Lock, so it looked like: keycode 78 (keysym 0xff14, Scroll_Lock) 2. Add the following to the i3 config: xset -r 78 # no repeat for scroll-lock pulseaudio-ctl mute-input yes # mute at startup bindsym Scroll_Lock exec pulseaudio-ctl mute-input no bindsym --release Scroll_Lock exec pulseaudio-ctl mute-input yes

JetSpiegel 6y ago
I'm using Sway, therefore Wayland, no `xset` here. I'm pretty sure I tested something like this first and it did not work, which I why I went to the hassle of creating this.

purplezooey 6y ago

Anybody doing it with Alsa