[SOLVED] Brightness Control in Laptop (Fedora 10)

[nujinini]

Hello Everybody,

I just installed openSUSE on my Lenovo G430 and was surprised (& happy) to find out that the brightness control in the keyboards actually works.

I thought it was a hardware issue between Lenovo & Linux since I have also the same problem with my other Linux partitions. For your information, I have the following: Fedora, Debian, Mandriva, Mint, & PCLinux.

This feature however works perfectly fine in my XP partition.

May I kindly ask for help regarding this matter please? If it is possible to also make the brightness control work in my other Linux partitions?

I would like to start to ask for help specifically for Fedora since this is where I spend most of my time when I use my laptop.

Thanks in advance!

[reed9]

Well, according this page, you can try

xrandr –output LVDS –set BACKLIGHT_CONTROL native

[nujinini]

I think I did not execute it correctly.

Can you please help me understand the output?

[jun@localhost ~]$ xrandr –output LVDS –set BACKLIGHT_CONTROL native
usage: xrandr [options]
  where options are:
  -display <display> or -d <display>
  -help
  -o <normal,inverted,left,right,0,1,2,3>
            or --orientation <normal,inverted,left,right,0,1,2,3>
  -q        or --query
  -s <size>/<width>x<height> or --size <size>/<width>x<height>
  -r <rate> or --rate <rate> or --refresh <rate>
  -v        or --version
  -x        (reflect in x)
  -y        (reflect in y)
  --screen <screen>
  --verbose
  --dryrun
  --prop or --properties
  --fb <width>x<height>
  --fbmm <width>x<height>
  --dpi <dpi>/<output>
  --output <output>
      --auto
      --mode <mode>
      --preferred
      --pos <x>x<y>
      --rate <rate> or --refresh <rate>
      --reflect normal,x,y,xy
      --rotate normal,inverted,left,right
      --left-of <output>
      --right-of <output>
      --above <output>
      --below <output>
      --same-as <output>
      --set <property> <value>
      --off
      --crtc <crtc>
  --newmode <name> <clock MHz>
            <hdisp> <hsync-start> <hsync-end> <htotal>
            <vdisp> <vsync-start> <vsync-end> <vtotal>
            [+HSync] [-HSync] [+VSync] [-VSync]
  --rmmode <name>
  --addmode <output> <name>
  --delmode <output> <name>
[jun@localhost ~]$

[reed9]

My mistake. Try it with two hyphens.

xrandr --output LVDS --set BACKLIGHT_CONTROL native

Also found this:
Fn key brightness settings | Mandriva Forum

and from here:

su -
setpci -s 00:02.1 F4.B=XX

Where XX in a hex number from 00 to FF.

[nujinini]

My mistake. Try it with two hyphens.

xrandr --output LVDS --set BACKLIGHT_CONTROL native

Also found this:
Fn key brightness settings | Mandriva Forum

and from here:

su -
setpci -s 00:02.1 F4.B=XX

Where XX in a hex number from 00 to FF.

Hello reed9,

IT's WORKING!

Thank you!

The screen blinked after I executed this:

[jun@localhost ~]$ su -
Password: 
[root@localhost ~]# xrandr --output LVDS --set BACKLIGHT_CONTROL native

However, the second command gave me this:

[root@localhost ~]# setpci -s 00:02.1 F4.B=XX
setpci: Invalid value "XX"

Usage: setpci [<options>] (<device>+ <reg>[=<values>]*)*

General options:
-f		Don't complain if there's nothing to do
-v		Be verbose
-D		List changes, don't commit them

PCI access options:
-A <method>	Use the specified PCI access method (see `-A help' for a list)
-O <par>=<val>	Set PCI access parameter (see `-O help' for a list)
-G		Enable PCI access debugging
-H <mode>	Use direct hardware access (<mode> = 1 or 2)

Setting commands:
<device>:	-s [[[<domain>]:][<bus>]:][<slot>][.[<func>]]
	|	-d [<vendor>]:[<device>]
<reg>:		<number>[.(B|W|L)]
     |		<name>
<values>:	<value>[,<value>...]
<value>:	<hex>
       |	<hex>:<mask>
[root@localhost ~]#

Do you think I still have to pursue the second command? Its working anyway...

EDIT: Done also in Mint.

[nujinini]

I just noticed that when I make a reboot, the control of the brightness is also gone

However, when I execute this :

xrandr –screen LVDS –set BACKLIGHT_CONTROL

It comes back. Is there a way to make it like, more permanent. So that I do not have to manually install every time I use? Just curious

[reed9]

Create a file in /etc/init.d/

gksudo gedit /etc/init.d/brightness.sh

Contents of the file

#!/bin/sh
xrandr –screen LVDS –set BACKLIGHT_CONTROL

make executable and run at boot

sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/brightness.sh
sudo update-rc.d /etc/init.d/brightness.sh defaults

[nujinini]

Hello,

[root@localhost ~]# nano /etc/init.d/brightness.sh
 GNU nano 2.0.6        File: /etc/init.d/brightness.sh                      

#!/bin/sh
xrandr --screen LVDS --set BACKLIGHT_CONTROL





^G Get Help ^O WriteOut ^R Read File^Y Prev Page^K Cut Text ^C Cur Pos
^X Exit     ^J Justify  ^W Where Is ^V Next Page^U UnCut Tex^T To Spell

SAVED

[root@localhost ~]# chmod +x /etc/init.d/brightness.sh
[root@localhost ~]#

[root@localhost ~]# update-rc.d /etc/init.d/brightness.sh defaults
-bash: update-rc.d: command not found
[root@localhost ~]#

I not sure about this third command...

Thanks!

[reed9]

I swear my brain is going. I forgot you're using Fedora, not Ubuntu.

Change update-rc.d to

chkconfig --add /etc/init.d/brightness.sh

[reed9]

I don't know if it's really preferable or not, but I would usually just edit /etc/rc.local and add your command. I went with adding the script to /etc/init.d/ because of my Ubuntu confusion - Ubuntu doesn't have /etc/rc.local.

The Fedora Basics FAQ