alsamixer command line arguments
 

I've a slighly unusual problem, I'm trying to update the volume on a remote pc (Debian sarge) to differnent levels at different times of the day.

So is there a way for me to change the volume from say 90% to 80% with a command line call using alsamixer?

The idea is then if i can i'd put that in a crontab.

Sure!
Install amixer and here yo go:
That one's to increase the volume by 10%. Just replace the + by a minus for decreasing it.
Check out the rich features on the man page.

Thanks for that in the end this command did the job perfectly for me
when call directly from the command line but when i put it into a crontab

i.e. set the volume to 80% at 9 in the morning every day
but for some reason amixer
sets the volume to 100% but when i make the exact same call from the
command line it does as expected.

I have confirmed the crontab does execute the script as the volume was
set at 90% before the scheduled crontab but 100 afterwards.

Any ideas?

this might be useful to someone
 

in xfce to get
Fn + downarrow to change the volume just add a new shortcut theme in settings > settings manager > Keyboard preferences > shortcuts, and edit the xf86audiolower commands.:)
thanks a lot.
i now love xfce even more.