[indicators] Add a quick controls for microphone (mute/unmute)

Bug #655580 reported by Adi Roiban
24
This bug affects 3 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
indicator-sound (Ubuntu)
Triaged
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

Right now, the sound indicator allows only to mute/unmute or change the speakers (output) level.

It would be great if it could also provide a quick control for the microphone (input).

By doing so, users will have a quick feedback regarding the reason why the sound input is not working... in most cases the input level being muted or too low.

<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MenuBar#system-status>: "Starting from the trailing end: * system menu * clock menu * sound menu * microphone menu * network menu..."

<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Sound#settings-pc>: "At the bottom left corner of the System Settings “Sound” panel should be “Show in the menu bar:” checkboxes, “Sound volume” and “Microphone when connected”. By default in a new user’s account, “Sound volume” should be checked and “Microphone when connected” should be unchecked."

<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Sound#microphone-menu>: "Whenever “Show in the menu bar: Microphone when connected” is checked, and an external microphone is connected, a microphone menu should be present in the system status area..."

Conor Curran (cjcurran)
Changed in indicator-sound (Ubuntu):
status: New → Opinion
Changed in indicator-sound:
importance: Undecided → Wishlist
assignee: nobody → Conor Curran (cjcurran)
Revision history for this message
User Unknown (user-unknown) wrote :

I second this suggestion. It would be very handy having a quick control up there in the notification area where it belongs.

I was just looking for a tool that would accomplish that as I usually disable my microphone when it's not needed, or well, in Ubuntu I mute it. But the process to frequently mute/unmute it is quite annoying and unnecessarily long right now.

I'd appreciate such a feature via the sound indicator, better than having another third-party program.

Conor Curran (cjcurran)
Changed in indicator-sound:
status: New → Opinion
Revision history for this message
Michał Sawicz (saviq) wrote :

Bump!

Keyboard shortcuts would be nice, too (shift+volume* or so).

Also adding ubuntu-ux for design feedback.

John Lea (johnlea)
summary: - Add a quick controls for microphone (mute/unmute)
+ [indicators] Add a quick controls for microphone (mute/unmute)
no longer affects: ubuntu-ux
Changed in indicator-sound:
assignee: Conor Curran (cjcurran) → nobody
status: Opinion → New
Changed in indicator-sound (Ubuntu):
assignee: nobody → Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)
status: Opinion → New
Ted Gould (ted)
Changed in indicator-sound (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Wishlist
Ted Gould (ted)
no longer affects: indicator-sound
Changed in indicator-sound (Ubuntu):
status: New → Triaged
Changed in indicator-sound (Ubuntu):
importance: Wishlist → High
description: updated
description: updated
Changed in indicator-sound (Ubuntu):
status: Triaged → In Progress
Revision history for this message
Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote :

Per spec, the sound menu already contains a microphone slider whenever a VoIP or sound recording stream is active. That shouldn't be the case whenever the microphone indicator is present instead.

Revision history for this message
Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote :
Changed in indicator-sound (Ubuntu):
assignee: Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) → nobody
status: In Progress → Triaged
Revision history for this message
Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote :

-> Medium since this is no longer requested by a customer.

Changed in indicator-sound (Ubuntu):
importance: High → Medium
description: updated
Will Cooke (willcooke)
tags: added: rls-w-incoming
tags: added: rls-x-incoming
removed: rls-w-incoming
Will Cooke (willcooke)
tags: removed: rls-x-incoming
Revision history for this message
Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote :

Spec updated again after discussion with Xavi Garcia. <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Sound?action=diff&rev2=173&rev1=172> We shouldn’t show the slider for an internal microphone, like on a phone, because that’s more likely to cause problems (people accidentally near-muting their phone’s mic) than benefits.

description: updated
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