martyb> Did you try to "beep" as root? I grabbed the 'beep' package, installed it, and it worked! So, I can now add the invocation of /usr/bin/beep to the 'xalarm' cmmd line. I still wonder why "$ echo ^G" doesn't work in "terminal" windows ... something missing in /etc/terminfo/*? Thanks, Marty, since you basically solved my problem! -Kenneth