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I'm using XPS 15 with an external monitor and the XPS even at the lowest is superbright and I get headaches. I used xrandr in the past and it worked but with latest Ubuntu versions it doesn't.

Currently I'm using Gnome's zoom, to set an overlay and this somewhat works. It's however annoying since the cursor is still brighter than the rest of desktop and the cursor icon lags updating a few seconds.

Is there a simple solution to adjust the brightness lower to all my screens at once? Something like this Windows program; https://www.aurelitec.com/colorveil/windows/

Update

I tried everything and was ready to give up. Thankfully I found this amazing gnome extension that solves it for me: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1625/soft-brightness/

Other solutions I tried

  • Gnome Zoom - works but cursor icon lags to change and is too bright.
  • Night Time - works but doesn't allow my set the brightness.
  • redshift - doesn't work at all.
  • x.flux - doesn't work at all.
Pithikos
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  • Which OS version are you using? Working fine on Ubuntu 19.04 for me. Using XPS 15 9570 myself. No error message when using xrandr? – Smurfz87 Nov 06 '19 at 12:34
  • @Smurfz87 Ubuntu 18.04 and I'd rather not upgrade since I'm working on this laptop. With xrandr --output XWAYLAND0 --brightness 0.1 no error but nothing happens – Pithikos Nov 06 '19 at 12:44
  • Not the OS that is wrong unfortunately. Dual booting 18.04 and 19.04, and working on both... If you run xrandr | grep -w 'connected', is XWAYLAND0 the only connected display? If not, could you try changing others in the list? – Smurfz87 Nov 06 '19 at 12:48
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    @Smurfz87 I tested that without the external monitor so yeah. Even with both monitors connected, none changes brightness(XWAYLAND0 and XWAYLAND1). Note I have the older XPS 9560, but wouldn't think there's a huge difference. Also I'm not using the Nvidia GPU. – Pithikos Nov 06 '19 at 13:30
  • Also using CPU graphics as fan is obnoxious on GPU. I see you're using Wayland. Might this be the cause of your issues? (Gnome is not shit anymore ;-p ) – Smurfz87 Nov 06 '19 at 13:40
  • Simply switch from Wayland to Xorg by clicking the gear next to your login password. – WinEunuuchs2Unix Nov 07 '19 at 20:36

3 Answers3

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The support for xRander to write to X11 applications does not exist on Wayland as documented here.

Also this forum thread discusses more in detail, stating there is no xrandr equivalent for Wayland. Post is old so might be alternatives out there.

The Backlight Utils on the ArchLinux Wiki states they are compatible with Wayland and does not control brightness using XServer. Not tested but might be the solution for you if you wish to continue using Wayland.

Smurfz87
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You can run:

xgamma -gamma 0.5

1.0 is the default value.

Eliah Kagan
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Sturge
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  • "Note that the xgamma utility is obsolete and deficient, xrandr should be used with drivers that support the XRandr extension." - https://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.7/doc/man/man1/xgamma.1.xhtml – Smurfz87 Nov 06 '19 at 12:58
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The application redshift-gtk can reduce the screen brightness by filtering out blue light. A "warmer" reddish temperature can greatly reduce eye strain and headaches as blue light is more stimulating to our eyes and our brains.

Run the following commands to enable the Universe repository and to install redshift-gtk:

sudo add-apt-repository universe
sudo apt update
sudo apt install redshift-gtk

You can search your installed applications for redshift to start it up.

There is also a gnome shell extension you can use to control redshift but I haven't used it. You can run the following command to install this extension:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-redshift

Extensions are usually enabled and configured through gnome-tweak-tool, which is also in the Universe repository:

sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool

Search your installed applications for "gnome tweak tool" or "tweaks" to start it up.

There used to be a GUI that you could use to change the settings but I don't know what happened to it. Using the command: redshift -h will show a list of options including RGB and others like DAY and NIGHT and also says this:

The neutral temperature is 6500K. Using this value will not change the color temperature of the display. Setting the color temperature to a value higher than this results in more blue light, and setting a lower value will result in more red light.

Default values:

Daytime temperature: 6500K Night temperature: 4500K

The following articles help to explain some of the configurations like DAY and NIGHT settings and automatic geolocation:

mchid
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