Disable Annoying System Beep on Linux (Ubuntu/Kubuntu)

I've been using Ubuntu (well... technically Nubuntu, as I am most certainly a Linux/Unix Newbie) quite a bit lately (more on that later...!) and if there's one thing that has annoyed me so far, it's probably the little old antiquated system beep that my computer makes when I accidentally press a key I'm not supposed.

The beep is loud (I've fallen off the chair quite a few times because of it), useless (well... sort of), annoying and just plain unnecessary. So, I finally decided to get rid of it. Of course, like any other linux newbie I decided to do a quick search on the interweb to find out how to fix the problem.

The first article I came across, from the how to geek, was a bit useless because it was for Ubuntu Edgy! Since I'm using the 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) version of the operating system, there is no 'System Beep' tab when I go to System > Preferences > Sound! But then I found another article from arsgeek that helped me handle the problem. Except, the instructions on arsgeek could have been a little better... so I'm publishing what I did on my blog.

First, I pressed Alt + F2, which brought up the run application command, and typed in the command as stated on arsgeek with a sudo in the front. Like so:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

And checked the box beside 'Run in terminal' and clicked Run.

Then, I typed in my password when Terminal asked me to type it... and Gedit open with the blacklist file.

I copied and pasted the entry:

#silly speaker beep
blacklist pcspkr

at the bottom of the file, and saved the file > Closed Gedit. Finally, on the terminal window that was still open I typed in (I could have of course restarted my system... but I didn't want to waste the 20 seconds):

sudo rmmod pcspkr

And that was the end of the annoying speaker beep problem, in Linux!

More on my experiences with Linux later!