I'm using Ubuntu Trusty tahr and I've noticed that there is no brightness control (like a slider), In windows I'll use Intel's graphics media accelerator to reduce brightness but here it looks impossible.
I'll be using my computer late hours to study and My monitor's hardware buttons are busted out so any help would be apreciated.
This does not make your brightness function keys work, but is a workaround.
Install Brightness Controller with the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:apandada1/brightness-controller
sudo apt-get update
For Version 1 with up to 4 Monitor Support:
sudo apt-get install brightness-controller
sudo apt-get install brightness-controller-simple
For Version 2 with Multi Monitor Support and other features: You can control brightness of two monitors using its sliders.
sudo apt install brightness-controller
On this site, a while ago I found an nice script from someone. THIS IS NOT MINE!
I am using it ever since on my netbook, running Xubuntu and it seems to run on anything.
For reasons of not posting a link-only answer, here it is:
#!/usr/bin/env python
from gi.repository import Gtk
import subprocess
class BrightnessScale:
def __init__(self):
# get active monitor and current brightness
self.monitor = self.getActiveMonitor()
self.currB = self.getCurrentBrightness()
def initUI(self):
# initliaze and configure window
window = Gtk.Window()
window.set_title('Brightness Scale')
window.set_default_size(250, 50)
window.set_position(Gtk.WindowPosition.CENTER)
window.set_border_width(10)
# slider configuration
self.adjustment = Gtk.Adjustment(self.currB, 0, 100, 1, 10, 0)
self.scale = Gtk.HScale()
self.scale.set_adjustment(self.adjustment)
self.scale.set_digits(0)
# close Gtk thread on closing window
window.connect("destroy", lambda w: Gtk.main_quit())
# setup event handler on value-changed
self.scale.connect("value-changed", self.scale_moved)
# add the scale to window
window.add(self.scale)
# show all components in window
window.show_all()
# close window on pressing escape key
accGroup = Gtk.AccelGroup()
key, modifier = Gtk.accelerator_parse('Escape')
accGroup.connect(key, modifier, Gtk.AccelFlags.VISIBLE, Gtk.main_quit)
window.add_accel_group(accGroup)
def showErrDialog(self):
self.errDialog = Gtk.MessageDialog(None,
Gtk.DialogFlags.MODAL,
Gtk.MessageType.ERROR,
Gtk.ButtonsType.OK,
"Unable to detect active monitor, run 'xrandr --verbose' on command-line for more info")
self.errDialog.set_title("brightness control error")
self.errDialog.run()
self.errDialog.destroy()
def initStatus(self):
if(self.monitor == "" or self.currB == ""):
return False
return True
def getActiveMonitor(self):
#Find display monitor
monitor = subprocess.check_output("xrandr -q | grep ' connected' | cut -d ' ' -f1", shell=True)
if(monitor != ""):
monitor = monitor.split('\n')[0]
return monitor
def getCurrentBrightness(self):
#Find current brightness
currB = subprocess.check_output("xrandr --verbose | grep -i brightness | cut -f2 -d ' '", shell=True)
if(currB != ""):
currB = currB.split('\n')[0]
currB = int(float(currB) * 100)
else:
currB = ""
return currB
def scale_moved(self, event):
#Change brightness
newBrightness = float(self.scale.get_value())/100
cmd = "xrandr --output %s --brightness %.2f" % (self.monitor, newBrightness)
cmdStatus = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True)
if __name__ == "__main__":
# new instance of BrightnessScale
brcontrol = BrightnessScale()
if(brcontrol.initStatus()):
# if everything ok, invoke UI and start Gtk thread loop
brcontrol.initUI()
Gtk.main()
else:
# show error dialog
brcontrol.showErrDialog()
Paste the script into an empty file, save it as brightness_set in ~/bin (you probably have to create the directory). Make it executable
Add it to a shortcut key: Choose: System Settings > "Keyboard" > "Shortcuts" > "Custom Shortcuts". Click the "+" and add the command:
brightness_set
Log out and back in and it should work
To make a nice set, you could make the slider available in Dash, the Launcher or any other application menu, by adding a .desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Brightness Scale
Icon=/path/to/set_brightness.png
Exec=brightness_set
OnlyShowIn=Unity;
In the Icon= line, set the path to the icon. Yopu can choose your own icon, or save the icon below as set_brightness.png:
Exec= line, the assumption is that the script is in $PATH (which includes ~/bin on Ubuntu), and executable
I developed Eyesome that runs 24/7 to:
A script to make setting the brightness more easier, based on xrandr and zenity:
#! /bin/bash
displays=($(xrandr | awk '/ connected /{print $1}'))
if (( ${#displays[@]} > 1 ))
then
selected_display="$(zenity --list --title 'Select Display' --radiolist --column '' --column 'Display' $(xrandr | awk '/ connected /{print NR,$1}'))"
else
selected_display="${displays[0]}"
fi
zenity --scale --title "Set brightness of $selected_display" --value=100 --print-partial |
while read brightness
do
xrandr --output "$selected_display" --brightness $(awk '{print $1/100}' <<<"$brightness"})
done
Install Zenity and xrandr:
sudo apt-get install x11-xserver-utils zenity
Save the script somewhere, make it executable (chmod +x some-script.sh), make a launcher if you wish. Then you can run the script and use this GUI to set the brightness.
Screenshots:
Introduction:
Knowing that Ubuntu's Unity relies on dbus service to communicate many settings and events to kernel and hardware, I've put together a simple bash script that relies on dbus and zenity --scale.
Installation
The script can be copied from here, or imported from my github.
To manually copy the script:
gedit text editor, copy over the code, save the file. Remember the location. Preferably it would be in $HOME/bin folder.chmod +x scriptName.shTo import from github:
sudo apt-get install git$HOME/bin directory, create one.cd $HOME/bin/; git clone https://github.com/SergKolo/sergrep.git Once download completes, ubright.sh is ready to be used, located in $HOME/bin/sergrep.
Script Source
#!/usr/bin/env bash
#
###########################################################
# Author: Serg Kolo , contact: 1047481448@qq.com
# Date: February 25th, 2016
# Purpose: Simple brightness control for Ubuntu Unity
# Written for: https://askubuntu.com/q/583863/295286
# Tested on: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
###########################################################
# Copyright: Serg Kolo , 2016
#
# Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software is hereby granted
# without fee, provided that the copyright notice above and this permission statement
# appear in all copies.
#
# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
# IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
# THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
# LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
# FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
# DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
# set -x
ARGV0="$0"
ARGC="$#"
main ()
{
local DISPLAY=:0
getPercentage | setBrightness > /dev/null
# echo $(getPercentage)
}
setBrightness()
{
local PERCENTAGE
read PERCENTAGE
[[ -n "$PERCENTAGE" ]] || exit 1
dbus-send --session --print-reply\
--dest=org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Power\
/org/gnome/SettingsDaemon/Power \
org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Power.Screen.SetPercentage uint32:"$PERCENTAGE"
}
getPercentage()
{
local PCT
PCT="$(zenity --scale --text='Choose brightness level')"
if [[ -n PCT ]]
then
echo "${PCT}"
fi
}
main
Additional Info: While many answers here rely on xrandr, it's worth to note that xrandr is not an "actual" hardware solution, i.e., it may change colouring of the screen such that it appears less bright, but the actual power consumption from the screen does not decrease. From xrandr man page:
--brightness brightness
Multiply the gamma values on the crtc currently attached to the output to specified floating value. Useful for overly bright or overly dim outputs. However, this is a software only modification, if your hardware has support to actually change the brightness, you will probably prefer to use xbacklight.
This answer relies on the dbus interface, which alters the actual brightness setting, represented by a file in /sys/class/backlight's sub-folder. Thus , through using dbus we actually control the hardware.
Related posts
ARGV0="$0" and ARGC="$#" defined but not referenced. Am I missing something?
– WinEunuuchs2Unix
Feb 14 '18 at 12:04
You also have a brigthness control tray applet here :
https://launchpad.net/indicator-brightness
In case that can help. (it works great for me.)
sudo apt install redshiftto install. – pbhj Feb 25 '23 at 14:41