Brightness Control Options

[cortez]

It's kind of irritating that a lot of distributions lack working brightness adjustment these days, while that's the most simple way of conserving the battery.
Since debian also lacks this control using Fn-3 and Fn-4, I thought I'd give it a try myself. Here's my solution:

First, copy the Angstrom script to /usr/bin and make it executable. The script I use is:

CODE

#!/bin/sh

# display-brightness.sh
# simple script to set display-brightness for zaurus clamshell
# author: patrick steiner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
# modified by: Ian Munsie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
# version: 1.01 | 13.07.2007 15:00

STEP=5
MIN=1

DRIVER="`ls /sys/class/backlight/|head -n 1`"
BRIGHTNESS_FILE="/sys/class/backlight/$DRIVER/brightness"
MAX_BRIGHTNESS=`cat /sys/class/backlight/$DRIVER/max_brightness`
POWER_FILE="/sys/class/backlight/$DRIVER/power"
POWER_ON=0

if [ ! -n "$1" ]; then
    echo "max / current"
    echo "$MAX_BRIGHTNESS / $ACTUAL_BRIGHTNESS"
elif [ "$1" = "up" ]; then
    #test -x /usr/bin/bl && bl on
    echo $POWER_ON >> $POWER_FILE
    ACTUAL_BRIGHTNESS=`cat /sys/class/backlight/$DRIVER/actual_brightness`
    let CURRENT_BRIGHTNESS=$ACTUAL_BRIGHTNESS+$STEP
    test "$CURRENT_BRIGHTNESS" -gt "$MAX_BRIGHTNESS" &&
CURRENT_BRIGHTNESS=$MAX_BRIGHTNESS
    echo $CURRENT_BRIGHTNESS >> $BRIGHTNESS_FILE
elif [ "$1" = "down" ]; then
    ACTUAL_BRIGHTNESS=`cat /sys/class/backlight/$DRIVER/actual_brightness`
    let CURRENT_BRIGHTNESS=$ACTUAL_BRIGHTNESS-$STEP
    test "$CURRENT_BRIGHTNESS" -lt "$MIN" && CURRENT_BRIGHTNESS=$MIN
    echo $CURRENT_BRIGHTNESS >> $BRIGHTNESS_FILE
else
    echo -e "\nUsage:\n\t `basename $0` [up | down]\n"
fi

Next, apt-get xbindkeys and xbindkeys-config

Use xbindkeys-config to assign the display-brightness script to the Fn-3 and Fn-4 using the parameters down and up respectively. Then run xbindkeys

Et voila!

[ZDevil]

Wow. That's nice!

It's good to see your "decaffeinated" Z running Debian?

I simply use the setfl script from pdaXrom and change the brightness adjustment interval from 1 to 5, then use the icewm to bind the keys.
http://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?act=fi...&pid=168157

[ZDevil]

@cortez: so would you be interested in making sound play (through the speaker) as well?

[cortez]

It's good to see your "decaffeinated" Z running Debian?

I simply use the setfl script from pdaXrom and change the brightness adjustment interval from 1 to 5, then use the icewm to bind the keys.
http://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?act=fi...&pid=168157

Maybe I should use the search option a bit more often... Oh, and by the way, my C750 is still dead, it's my replacement C3100 that's running Debian

@cortez: so would you be interested in making sound play (through the speaker) as well?

I'm still in the exploration-phase, so I haven't been able to test the sound I'm afraid. It's really amazing that so far everything I install seems to work. No stability problems whatsoever. Ever tried the Mozilla variant Kazehakase? Anyway, give me a bit more time, and maybe I can help.

First I have to setup a build system. What do you guys use, scratchbox?

[jpmatrix]

little problem again with the setfl script : my default user cannot change the brightness because it cannot access /sys/class/backlight/corgi-bl/brightness .....

should i use sudo setfl or is there a better way ?

[ZDevil]

Actually I find xbindkeys works better than the keys setting in IceWM. xbindkeys is totally WM-independent and it can correctly pick up the Fn key, which the .icewm/keys setting fails to bind. Now I can use [Fn]+3 & 4 to turn backlight up and down easily.

Scratchbox seems an ideal choice. But I have yet to spare some solid time to learn the basics and get some initial practice. So for now I am still using the native toolchain to build several apps that are missing in the official feeds. The GCC 4.2.1 toolchain really rocks! With a big (512MB) swap in both my internal CF and "external" microdrive many programs got compiled with ease.
Truly, most Debian ARM packages just work and they run faster than I assumed (after worrying so much about optimization and perfecting builds in the air ).
As for compiling strategy, I would use whatever available in the official feeds, while compiling new stuff (missing and "experimental") and recompiling things to better the performance along the way.

[ZDevil]

little problem again with the setfl script : my default user cannot change the brightness because it cannot access /sys/class/backlight/corgi-bl/brightness .....

should i use sudo setfl or is there a better way ?

How about:
creating a wheel group.
adding your user to the wheel group,
then visudo to set up the rights for the wheel group,
then chgrp wheel setfl
?

[jpmatrix]

little problem again with the setfl script : my default user cannot change the brightness because it cannot access /sys/class/backlight/corgi-bl/brightness .....

should i use sudo setfl or is there a better way ?

How about:
creating a wheel group.
adding your user to the wheel group,
then visudo to set up the rights for the wheel group,
then chgrp wheel setfl
?

well,
surprisingly, i could not create a wheel group :
addgroup failed with error code

so i decided to put a my_user NOPASSWD: ALL in sudoers for my normal user...
now sudo setfl - is working

thanks

[Chero]

Related to this I'm playing with "gpe-conf" (the gpe-settings-apps)

So far I've got "date & time" , "network" (partial) , "users manager" , "usb" , "screen setup" (backlight!!), "cardinfo", "sytem info" working.

more on this later.
Chero.

[jpmatrix]

Related to this I'm playing with "gpe-conf" (the gpe-settings-apps)

So far I've got "date & time" , "network" (partial) , "users manager" , "usb" , "screen setup" (backlight!!), "cardinfo", "sytem info" working.

more on this later.
Chero.

would you tell us more ? what did you install actually ? are these applets or menu items ? under which window manager ?

[Chero]

Related to this I'm playing with "gpe-conf" (the gpe-settings-apps)

So far I've got "date & time" , "network" (partial) , "users manager" , "usb" , "screen setup" (backlight!!), "cardinfo", "sytem info" working.

more on this later.
Chero.

would you tell us more ? what did you install actually ? are these applets or menu items ? under which window manager ?

I compiled gpe-conf and they are menu-items. The window manager doesn't matter.

[scottlfa]

Amy chance of a deb of it? or tar ball?

[Chero]

That's the plan, but the project is sleeping right now.

I have to include some config files in /etc to make everything work.

Chero

[judecn]

I think everything *except* gpe-conf and bl can be found in the feeds at the moment. Snarfing gpe-conf from Angstrom and getting the GPE support libraries from the feeds worked for me (as well as snarfing Angstrom's bl script in /usr/bin, which really does nothing more than invokes gpe-conf).

[scottlfa]

Found this worked for me pretty well.

CODE

###########################
# xbindkeys configuration #
###########################
#
# Version: 0.1.3
#
# If you edit this, do not forget to uncomment any lines that you change.
# The pound(#) symbol may be used anywhere for comments.
#
# A list of keys is in /usr/include/X11/keysym.h and in
# /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h
# The XK_ is not needed.
#
# List of modifier (on my keyboard):
#   Control, Shift, Mod1 (Alt), Mod2 (NumLock),
#   Mod3 (CapsLock), Mod4, Mod5 (Scroll).
#
# Another way to specifie a key is to use 'xev' and set the
# keycode with c:nnn or the modifier with m:nnn where nnn is
# the keycode or the state returned by xev
#
# This file is created by xbindkey_config
# The structure is :
# # Remark
# "command"
# m:xxx + c:xxx
# Shift+...

#keystate_numlock = enable
#keystate_scrolllock = enable
#keystate_capslock = enable

#BrDown
"/usr/bin/display-brightness.sh down"
    m:0x10 + c:12
    Mod2 + 3

#BrUp
"/usr/bin/display-brightness.sh up"
    m:0x10 + c:13
    Mod2 + 4

#Left Click
#"xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 2 3""
#    alt

#Middle Click
#"xmodmap -e "pointer = 2 3 1""
#    m:0x0 + c:68

#Right click
#"xmodmap -e "pointer = 3 1 2""
#    m:0x40 + c:105
#    control

#Backlight On
"bl on"
    m:0x10 + c:14
    Mod2 + 5

#Backlight Off
"bl off"
    m:0x10 + c:15
    Mod2 + 6

#Home Row
#Calendar
#"xfce-terminal"
#Address
#Mail
#Home
#Menu
# End of xbindkeys configuration

file is .xbindkeyrc