Screen brightness on Acer 4810T

[hesapotman]

Xmodmap might solve your problem.
I suggest that you do:
1. get the keysym name of the key via xev that you would like to use for screen brightness adjustment
2. find the keysym name for the screen brightness
3. do :

xmodmap -e " keysym function4 = Brightness"

for example. This is just an example actual keysym names will probably different than "function4" or "Brightness".

I did tinker around a bit with remapping keys instead of creating brightness keyboard shortcuts. But there seems to be something at a lower-level that prevents me from using the standard "XF86MonBrightnessUp" and "XF86MonBrightnessDown" keys as shortcuts. Sure, I can request they be used as shortcuts, but it just doesn't work.

Could you provide some more detail about how your solution can help with this problem? Thanks for the input!

[m0jo1337]

I have successfully set XF86MonBrightnessUp & XF86MonBrightnessDown in the Shortcuts menu to execute the script. By simply try pressing those keys as a shortcut.

-> I pressed Fn+LeftArrow and shortcut menu instantly replacced it with XF86MonBrightnessUp and it works like a charm

[garfieldenforce]

Thanks so much Hesapotman! Your solution works nicely on my laptop, and I have no trouble using Fn+left and Fn+right.
fyi my laptop is an Acer 4810T and I'm running Maverick.

[marquinos]

This works perfect for my laptop ACER TM 5735 Graphic card T4500M, with Ubuntu 10.10 64 bits:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...62&postcount=6
Best regards.

[rs87424]

I have an Acer Aspire 4810TZ and I tried the brup brdn brightness fix and I found that the path usr/bin already has a file called brightness with some random media inside it.

I am running Maverick 10.10 as of now. I was just trying to figure out the specifics of the fix. Would there be any other path that I could put the file instead of usr/bin?

[dummiebeginner]

I am using ...

Laptop: Acer Aspire 4736z
Graphics: Intel GMA 4500M
OS: Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat (10.10)
Kernel: 2.6.35-23-generic

And I managed to solve this problem for myself using some modified scripts/advice from other forum posts.

First, create a folder on your desktop called "brightness", go into the directory, create two files: brup and brdn, and set their permissions to execute.

mkdir /home/<YOUR_USERNAME>/Desktop/brightness

cd /home/<YOUR_USERNAME>/Desktop/brightness

touch brup brdn

chmod 0755 br*

Next, we'll edit "brup"

gedit brup

Adding the following text to "brup"

#!/bin/bash

# these are the possible values:
# 00  19 32 4b 64 7d 96 af c8 e1 ff
# 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 00

Current=`sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B`
case $Current in
  e1)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=c8
  ;;
  c8)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=af
  ;;
  af)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=96
  ;;
  96)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=7d
  ;;
  7d)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=64
  ;;
  64)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=4b
  ;;
  4b)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=32
  ;;
  32)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=19
  ;;
  19)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=00
  ;;
  *)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=00
  ;;
esac

Now we "Save" the file and "Close" gedit.

Next, we'll edit "brdn"

gedit brdn

Adding the following text to "brdn"

#!/bin/bash

# these are the possible values:
# 00  19 32 4b 64 7d 96 af c8 e1 ff
# 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 00

Current=`sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B`
case $Current in
  00)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=19
  ;;
  19)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=32
  ;;
  32)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=4b
  ;;
  4b)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=64
  ;;
  64)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=7d
  ;;
  7d)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=96
  ;;
  96)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=af
  ;;
  af)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=c8
  ;;
  c8)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=e1
  ;;
  *)
    sudo setpci -s 00:02.0 F4.B=e1
  ;;
esac

Now we "Save" the file and "Close" gedit.

Next, we would like to put those files somewhere in the System. I chose to create a directory called "brightness" in the "/usr/bin" path. After that, we copy the scripts we just wrote (brup & brdn) to that path.

sudo mkdir /usr/bin/brightness

sudo cp * /usr/bin/brightness

Now we want to change the "sudoers" file so that we can execute these scripts without having to enter a password each time.

sudo gedit /etc/sudoers

After the line "#Cmnd alias specification", we want to add a line aliasing our brightness commands.

# Cmnd alias specification
Cmnd_Alias BRIGHT_CMDS = /usr/bin/brightness/brup, /usr/bin/brightness/brdn

And at the very bottom of the file (AFTER the line "%admin ALL=(ALL) ALL"), we want to add a line permitting all users to execute those scripts without having to enter a password.

ALL ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: BRIGHT_CMDS

Now we "Save" the file and "Close" gedit.

Painful terminal crap is over ... So close it!

Now we go to the menu-bar selecting from the cascading options: System -> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts

In the box that opens, click the "Add" button and enter the following:

Name: Brightness Up
Command: gksudo /usr/bin/brightness/brup

And click "Apply".

Next we click the "Add" button again and enter the following:

Name: Brightness Down
Command: gksudo /usr/bin/brightness/brdn

And click "Apply".

Now, if you look at the bottom of the list of Keyboard Shortcuts, you should see two "Custom Shortcuts" (the ones you just entered).

If you click on the right side of the listings (in the "Shortcut" column), you will be able to enter a keystroke (or combination) that will activate your "Brightness Up" and "Brightness Down" actions.

For me, I chose CTRL+WIN+RIGHT_ARROW for "Brightness Up" and CTRL+WIN+LEFT_ARROW for "Brightness Down. But you can use any keystrokes you like as long as they don't conflict with other existing shortcuts.

Now click "Close" in the "Keyboard Shortcuts" box.

THAT'S IT! You should be good to go now. Give it a try with your selected keystrokes and see if it works for you. I sure hope this helps someone.

So I did all of that and it worked, but when I rebooted later, it was gone and doesn't work anymore.

Anyone?

[hesapotman]

I have an Acer Aspire 4810TZ and I tried the brup brdn brightness fix and I found that the path usr/bin already has a file called brightness with some random media inside it.

I am running Maverick 10.10 as of now. I was just trying to figure out the specifics of the fix. Would there be any other path that I could put the file instead of usr/bin?

Yes, you certainly can use any folder name you want under "/usr/bin" ... It doesn't have to be "brightness."

You can call it "/usr/bin/backlight" or even "/usr/bin/rosebud" if you like.

But if you do choose a different path name, you need to be sure that you use that different path name throughout my instructions. So, for example, your keyboard shortcut might point to "/usr/bin/rosebud/brup" instead of "/usr/bin/brightness/brup".

Good luck!

[hesapotman]

So I did all of that and it worked, but when I rebooted later, it was gone and doesn't work anymore.

Anyone?

You're saying all the files/folders you created along with the keyboard shortcuts were gone after rebooting?

With the problem you're describing (and the name "dummiebeginner"), my first guess that perhaps you are running Ubuntu from a Live CD?

If you are using a Live CD, you need to understand that you cannot make any changes (like creating folders/files and keyboard shortcuts) that remain after shutdown/reboot. In order to make permanent changes, you can do one of two things ...

1) Instead of a Live CD, try to run Ubuntu from a Live USB thumbdrive WITH A PERSISTENCE FILE. This allows changes to be saved even after shutdown/reboot.

2) Go ahead and install Ubuntu on your computer which obviously allows changes to be saved after shutdown/reboot. I can almost promise you won't regret putting Ubuntu on your computer (as long as you don't use that horrific, shark-jumping, "Unity" desktop that came out with Natty).

If you were not using a Live CD when you experienced this problem, then I'm not sure what to tell you except ... Good luck!