Poll: Ubuntu Login/Shutdown Sounds – Love or Hate?

By , Published September 29, 2009
The login and shutdown sounds for Ubuntu haven’t changed in what seems like eternity!

Given the current emphasis on creating a more modern looking Ubuntu desktop one has to ask who forgot about the system sounds?!

So the poll this week is: 

Poll Now Closed. Thanks for voting!

Ubuntu Login/Shutdown sounds – Nice or Not?

In-case you lack any speakers (or just quickly hit mute everytime you login!) here’s our Keith with a quick reminder: –

Login Sound
Logout Sound

Reasons to love
They’re part and parcel of Ubuntu. A part of it’s identity if you like, in the same way that the brown/orange colour scheme is. Changing the sounds would be like taking part of Ubuntu’s personality away.

Reasons not to
Well… you just have to listen to them! Aside from a high-pitched hissing sound emitted from the .ogg’s, audible on high-end speakers, they’re just a throwback to Ubuntu’s past that needs to keep pace with the rest of the evolving maturing operating system.

Article originally appeared on omgubuntu.co.uk

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  • Anonymous

    I agree. Changing the default sounds are one of the first customisations I make.

  • http://www.intent.lt/ Satyam

    i really hope it will be changed soon.
    Too much of a painful memories :)

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      On a new install… the first reboot… login.. and WHAM! They’re so freaking loud!

      • http://www.intent.lt/ Satyam

        the only positive thought at that moment – YES! my audio device is working! :)

  • Majd

    Oh cmo’n guys! I kinda love the whole tribal music theme that comes with Ubuntu, It is part of it’s brand. But I’m sad because there isn’t much noise about this issue, so thanks OMGUbuntu :)

    I’m in favor of having other sound themes available for a one-click install, but keeping this as the default.. but that’s just me :)

  • http://twitter.com/kinesthesia kinesthesia

    Love ‘em. Just like I love the default Ubuntu look.

    I’ve changed the Metacity theme to Shiki Colors, since.. but I’ll always love the look and feel of a default Ubuntu install.

  • Mohan

    I haven’t been getting the logout sound for over a year now. Aside from that, I think they should really come up with new ones, to really make the user feel that Ubutnu is more modern, I like Vista/7 as well as OS X ones that are used by respective OS makers. Also Linux Mint has some really nice login and logout sounds.

  • Anonymous

    They do work with the visuals of Ubuntu, but I find the rhythm a bit off on the actualy track (musically speaking).
    Also, notice how Windows 7 reduced the length of the startup sound. Maybe take that as a hint.
    It especially sucks when powering up a laptop during class. So maybe a sound option could be made available right from the GDM login screen.

  • Paul

    That sounds are really old, so, they need to remake them to a little noisy sound theme.
    But I remember some cases of good sound cards that didn’t play well with OSS / ALSA emittings lower sounds.
    For me, those loud sounds is a meaning of Linux compatibility power. But, we need an upgrade of course.

  • Jimbo

    Brown theme = bad
    Tribal start up = good

    New sexy theme + tribal music? Hmm Probably wont go.

  • martini1179

    You know, I’ve been using Ubuntu for about 5 months now and I’ve *NEVER* heard the logout sound! I have, of course, logged out of my account instead of just shutting down on many occasions and still nothing. Can someone explain this?

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      Luck?!

      Joking aside, i remember having it at some point … but i also remember not having it at others…

  • http://www.FreezingMoon.org/ Dread Knight

    I fucking hate those sounds, too lame and long… and the windows 3.1 mouse cursor.

  • http://www.snoopyonskittles.com/ Chris Tomalty

    For some reason I don’t get them in Karmic. Again, I need to reinstall when Beta arrives, but I really think that Canonical should change them, but keep the same idea and use a real choir/vocal group instead of something that came off a synthesizer.

    It’s Linux for Human Beings. Use some in the startup sound.

  • http://twitter.com/Nickedynick Nick Stringer

    Ubuntu sounds seem pretty sweet to me. I remember hearing the login sound on a train one time and looking like an idiot when I practically jumped up out of my seat to see where it came from :D

  • http://encephalosponge.com/ Jonathan Blackhall

    Um, how do I vote? Maybe set up a polldaddy poll or something?

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      Oops forgot to mention in the post that the poll is in the left-hand sidebar

  • Mel

    I always uncheck “use system sounds” because of this, especially the jungle music when Gnome loads, it’s just painful.

    I hate the sound, and yes, they should change them to something slick.

  • http://openid.markdarb.com/ Mark William Darbyshire

    I have sounds disabled, but when they were enabled for some reason the logout sound never actually played.

  • julio

    Well… I even don’t know if it should be asked!
    CHANGE THE THING! ¬___¬

  • mer

    I like the concept behind the sound- this is a different operating system, based on more human and natural interaction, but the execution is a bit off, especially now that the visual themes are changing. If we could have a shorter, quieter, more modern sound, but still keep some sort of throwback to this earthy theme, we’d have a winner.

  • Ben

    They go well with what we’ve had thus far, but with newer, slicker login and themes, I think it’s high time for a change.

    Actually, I like the logout sound. Perhaps use it as the basis for a new login sound?

  • Anonymous

    i think they should get rid of the login sound. in my eyes it is just extra code and my opinion is we should be working on geting rid of unneeded code and work on code reuse

  • Jeff

    Personally I quite like the Ubuntu login/logout sounds. Lets you know rght from the get go that this definitely aint windows = )

  • http://www.turtleblog.co.uk/ Edd Turtle

    Noooo, they might not be the best but it’s so friendly. It’s like a falling apart bike you don’t like vs. your own falling apart bike you’ve had for years and you like it :)

  • ajlec2000

    I like the login sound. It has become quite a comfort over the last few years. Unlike the Windows login sound which almost causes me to cringe in antcipation of the effort its going to take to get anything out of the MS box. Actually Intrepid works so well I intend to stick with it through its support cycle and perhaps longer so any such change won’t affect me for awhile.

  • Anonymous

    While these sounds haven’t changed since long. I like it the way it is. But as such these are really cool sounds. So much unique and kind of attract attention from others all the time. Frankly, I would n’t worry about these for now. Instead of changing sounds, we should look for a different login notification altogether – something like “Akshay, Good Morning. your desktop is now ready to use” once it is all up and running. :)

  • Anonymous

    I think the login sound is too long although I doubt I’d keep them even if it changed. Now that I think about it, I turn off all sounds, and I’ve been doing that for a while (even when I used Windows). Sounds used to be a big deal in 1995, but now I feel like we don’t need them anymore.

  • ARI

    I like the login sound… but I have just started using Ubuntu a month ago..

  • https://launchpad.net/~tudor Tudor

    So what were the poll results?  Why doesn’t it show them after the poll has closed?

 
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