New: Nvidia Brightness Control

[IntuitiveNipple]

A new Gnome panel applet to control Nvidia screen brightness:

Having recently bought a Sony Vaio laptop that has a Nvidia GeForce Go 7600, and installed Feisty, I found the existing brightness control (using sonypi interface) doesn't work.

I also tried the Gnome panel applet VaioLCD Brightness but it relies on the sonypi device too.

The smartdimmer package is the solution. It is a command-line program that can get, set, and increment/decrement brightness on many Nvidia chipsets.

I wanted a Gnome panel applet just like VaioLCD Brightness to make the task easy, so I have hacked VaioLCD into a new package, SmartDimmerApplet, that makes calls to the smartdimmer program to adjust brightness.

This works with (at least) Feisty and Gutsy, and on 32-bit and 64-bit Intel/AMD architectures. If you have it working on other architectures please let us know.

To use it, first install smartdimmer from the Ubuntu repositories using Synaptic, or using the command-line, and then test it to ensure it works with your Nvidia chipset:

$ sudo apt-get install smartdimmer
$ smartdimmer -g
SmartDimmer level: 21
$ smartdimmer -s 10
$ smartdimmer -i
$ smartdimmer -d

If it's working then you can go ahead and use my SmartDimmer applet for Gnome.

If necessary, install the packages required to build Gnome applets

You also need to install the automake package and, if it isn't created, a symlink:

$ sudo apt-get install automake1.9
$ if [ ! -e /usr/share/automake ]; then sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.9 /usr/share/automake; fi

Then install the required library development headers:

$ sudo apt-get install libglade2-dev libpanel-applet2-dev

Note: I have installed so many packages for building software I'm no longer sure precisely which packages are required, so if you build on a clean system please make a note of each package you install and post the list here. I'll add it to this first article to help others.

Now follow these steps to build and install the applet:

1. Download the source package attached to this article
2. Extract the source package
3. Configure the build environment (errors here will indicate additional packages need installing)
4. Make the applet
5. Install the applet
6. Add the applet to a Gnome panel

$ cd ~
$ wget http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=33182&d=1179871063
$ tar -xzvf gnome-smartdimmer-1.0.tar.gz
$ cd gnome-smartdimmer-1.0
$  ./configure
$ make
$ sudo make install

Now right-click on a Gnome panel and choose "Add to Panel...", scroll to "System & Hardware" and then drag "Nvidia SmartDimmer Brightness Control" onto a panel.

To alter brightness click the panel icon and drag the slider.

[p1977p]

smartdimmer gives error: "init_nvclock() failed!"
i'm running xubuntu 64 bit on an AMD turion64 laptop with an onboard nvidia geforce card
pl help

[IntuitiveNipple]

Originally Posted by p1977p smartdimmer gives error: "init_nvclock() failed!" i'm running xubuntu 64 bit on an AMD turion64 laptop with an onboard nvidia geforce card pl help

init_nvclock() fails if an nvidia kernel driver isn't loaded, or a call to probe_devices() fails to detect a supported chipset.

I'd guess that the Nvidia chipset on your system isn't supported by smartdimmer, but as you don't say what the model number is, or give the PCI ID of the card (found using lspci) it's difficult to be precise.

[dreadlord_chris]

Originally Posted by IntuitiveNipple init_nvclock() fails if an nvidia kernel driver isn't loaded, or a call to probe_devices() fails to detect a supported chipset. I'd guess that the Nvidia chipset on your system isn't supported by smartdimmer, but as you don't say what the model number is, or give the PCI ID of the card (found using lspci) it's difficult to be precise.

Ya, I also get the same error. Here's my relevant lspci line:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G72 [GeForce 7300 LE] (rev a1)

[IntuitiveNipple]

I posted details of my SmartDimmer applet in the Nvidia Linux forums, and someone there replied with information that there is now an updated nvclock backend, which smartdimmer was derived from originally.

I'm going to get the latest nvclock source, build it, and then adapt my SmartDimmer applet to use it. If it works for me I'll modify SmartDimmer so by default it'll try to use nvclock, and only if it isn't found will it try to use smartdimmer.

That way SmartDimmer can support both utilities, and use whatever the user's PC has installed.

[IntuitiveNipple]

I've tested nvclock and it also works to control the brightness. I've asked the author for a couple of minor command-line alterations to make it easier for SmartDimmer to use it.

Once that is done I'll add support for nvclock and post and updated SmartDimmer applet here.

I'm also investigating having the applet remember the last-used setting and automatically restore it when the applet starts.

[p1977p]

Originally Posted by IntuitiveNipple init_nvclock() fails if an nvidia kernel driver isn't loaded, or a call to probe_devices() fails to detect a supported chipset. I'd guess that the Nvidia chipset on your system isn't supported by smartdimmer, but as you don't say what the model number is, or give the PCI ID of the card (found using lspci) it's difficult to be precise.

here's my lspci output:
00:05.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation C51 PCI Express Bridge (rev a2)

isn't there a way to alter the 'brightness' file in proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD directly or through a script. i mean, use the sony/toshiba scripts that are present by default and modify them? that would require catching the relevant key combination. can this be done?

[IntuitiveNipple]

I modified the ACPI brightness scripts to call smartdimmer which helps when the laptop goes between AC and battery modes. You could do the same using nvclock.

The VaioLCD Brightness panel applet is hard-coded to use sonypi though, and as far as I can make out that only works with Intel-based graphics chipsets. For Nvidia, brightness control can't be done via sonypi.

[frank58]

./configure gives errror cannot find install-sh or install.sh in . ./.. ./../..

[IntuitiveNipple]

Originally Posted by frank58 ./configure gives errror cannot find install-sh or install.sh in . ./.. ./../..

You need to install additional packages as I mentioned:

Originally Posted by IntuitiveNipple If necessary, install the packages required to build Gnome applets You also need to install the automake package: $ sudo apt-get install automake Note: I have installed so many packages for building software I'm no longer sure precisely which packages are required, so if you build on a clean system please make a note of each package you install and post the list here. I'll add it to this first article to help others.