Why can your macros and scripts not use the alsa system beep?
http://www.mail-archive.com/alsa-use.../msg19938.html
http://osdir.com/ml/linux.alsa.user/.../msg00019.html
... both have the same problem, but there is no suggested solution.
Some people seem to have the opposite problem... PC speaker beep but no other sound. And there is the usual slew of people with no sound at all.
I am suspecting that the pcspkr driver is being turned off in a configuration file. Or, maybe, the alsa driver is just hogging all audio.
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/migration-to-2.6.xml
... points out that the PC speaker is a configurable option.
"CONFIG_INPUT_PCSPKR=m" is, presumably, how you compiled in support. I'm trying to find if this can be enabled/disabled dynamically.
Hmmm... I note that the system beep is disabled when I use beryl... it has a visual bell instead (wobbles the window). Thinking this through backwards and searching for ways to
disable the beep shows me the file to look at is /etc/inputrc ... look for a line that says "set bell-style none"...