How do I adjust the screen brightness in Xfce?

[Toz]

Can you also post back the results of:

lsmod

[Toz]

Just came across this link: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...ghlight=vgn-fs. I know its a little old, but it might be worth a shot.

[raginkestrel]

Hi Toz,

My numbered function keys do work(eg. F5 in Chromium refreshes the page). It is when I press the "Fn" key and then press the numbered keys that they are ignored.

I set the brightness to 50%. Here is what comes back when I enter the "brightness down" command:
DEBUG: down selected
DEBUG: down->CURRENT=42
DEBUG: down->NEW=32
DEBUG: beforeset->current_xbacklight=42
DEBUG: afterset->current_xbacklight=28

Here is what comes back when I enter the "brightness up" command:
DEBUG: up selected
DEBUG: up->CURRENT=28
DEBUG: up->NEW=38
DEBUG: beforeset->current_xbacklight=28
DEBUG: afterset->current_xbacklight=28

Now, I decided to raise the increment from 10 to 20 and...
It works! Why, I have no idea. Here is the debug info:
DEBUG: up selected
DEBUG: up->CURRENT=28
DEBUG: up->NEW=48
DEBUG: beforeset->current_xbacklight=28
DEBUG: afterset->current_xbacklight=42

[Toz]

That's good news. Set both the INCREMENT and DECREMENT values to 20. It must be that you have less than 10 backlight settings.

What does lsmod return?

[raginkestrel]

Hi Toz,

Here are the results for lsmod:

Module                  Size  Used by
xt_limit               12541  8 
xt_tcpudp              12531  7 
ipt_LOG                12784  8 
ipt_MASQUERADE         12663  0 
xt_DSCP                12549  0 
ipt_REJECT             12512  1 
nf_conntrack_irc       13138  0 
nf_conntrack_ftp       13106  0 
xt_state               12514  6 
cryptd                 19801  0 
aes_i586               16956  2 
aes_generic            38023  1 aes_i586
lib80211_crypt_ccmp    12785  2 
parport_pc             32111  0 
ppdev                  12849  0 
snd_hda_codec_realtek   255882  1 
snd_hda_intel          24140  4 
snd_hda_codec          90901  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              13274  1 snd_hda_codec
i915                  446502  2 
snd_pcm                80042  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_midi           13132  0 
ipw2200               145664  0 
snd_rawmidi            25269  1 snd_seq_midi
binfmt_misc            13213  1 
drm_kms_helper         40745  1 i915
acpi_igd_opregion      13574  1 i915
snd_seq_midi_event     14475  1 snd_seq_midi
libipw                 46641  1 ipw2200
snd_seq                51291  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
tifm_sd                17415  0 
pcmcia                 39671  0 
drm                   180037  4 i915,drm_kms_helper,acpi_igd_opregion
snd_timer              28659  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
joydev                 17322  0 
cfg80211              156212  2 ipw2200,libipw
snd_seq_device         14110  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
iptable_nat            12977  0 
nf_nat                 24827  2 ipt_MASQUERADE,iptable_nat
nf_conntrack_ipv4      19024  9 iptable_nat,nf_nat
tifm_7xx1              12898  0 
nf_conntrack           69744  7 ipt_MASQUERADE,nf_conntrack_irc,nf_conntrack_ftp,xt_state,iptable_nat,nf_nat,nf_conntrack_ipv4
sony_laptop            34432  0 
nf_defrag_ipv4         12649  1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
iptable_mangle         12615  0 
iptable_filter         12706  1 
ip_tables              18125  3 iptable_nat,iptable_mangle,iptable_filter
x_tables               21907  11 xt_limit,xt_tcpudp,ipt_LOG,ipt_MASQUERADE,xt_DSCP,ipt_REJECT,xt_state,iptable_nat,iptable_mangle,iptable_filter,ip_tables
snd                    55295  17 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
yenta_socket           27230  0 
pcmcia_rsrc            18292  1 yenta_socket
tifm_core              15040  2 tifm_sd,tifm_7xx1
psmouse                73312  0 
i2c_algo_bit           13184  1 i915
soundcore              12600  1 snd
pcmcia_core            21505  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,pcmcia_rsrc
video                  18951  1 i915
serio_raw              12990  0 
lib80211               14570  3 lib80211_crypt_ccmp,ipw2200,libipw
snd_page_alloc         14073  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
lp                     13349  0 
parport                36746  3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
usbhid                 41704  0 
hid                    77084  1 usbhid
firewire_ohci          31504  0 
firewire_core          56138  1 firewire_ohci
e100                   40108  0 
crc_itu_t              12627  1 firewire_core

I finally discovered the code tags.

[Toz]

I was looking to see if the sony_laptop module was running. Looks like it is. It's what makes the function keys work on viaos. For some reason ubuntu is not picking them up. Have you had a chance to try the solution from http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...ghlight=vgn-fs?

[raginkestrel]

I got a weird message from the Software Center when I tried to install the package. It said "This package is of bad quality" and provided the following details:

Lintian check results for /home/david/Desktop/fsfn_2.1-1_i386.deb:
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid debian-binary 1000/1000
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid etc/ 1000/1000
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid etc/fsfn.conf 1000/1000
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid etc/init.d/ 1000/1000
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid etc/init.d/fsfn 1000/1000
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/ 1000/1000
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/local/ 1000/1000
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/local/bin/ 1000/1000
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/local/bin/fsfn 1000/1000
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/local/share/ 1000/1000
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/local/share/man/ 1000/1000
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/local/share/man/man1/ 1000/1000
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/local/share/man/man1/fsfn.1 1000/1000
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/local/share/man/man5/ 1000/1000
E: fsfn: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/local/share/man/man5/fsfn.5 1000/1000

[Toz]

I guess not - too old. That package hasn't been updated since then either.

I'm sorry, but I'm out of ideas for getting the Fn keys to work. Perhaps you should create a bug report (like this one: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ux/+bug/691826) and see if you can get a solution there.

[raginkestrel]

Hi Toz,

I am not worried about it. The only keys I needed were the ones to adjust the backlight, and I now have those set to "Ctrl d" and "Crtl u". The other keys, zoom, volume control, sleep, etc., I always control by software; even on my netbook which does have a working Fn key. Thank you for your help. It is a relief being able to look at the screen without sunglasses!

[Toz]

Is your numlock enabled (on)? If so, try disabling it then try the function keys on their own.

and, open a terminal window, type in :

acpi_listen

then press the function keys with and without the numlock on. Do you get any response on the terminal when you press these keys?