Dim Screen Past Minimum Setting

kidou343 · 2013-06-14 07:22:28

I always find that my laptop's screen is too bright when I use it at night, even when it is at its lowest brightness setting. I already use xflux, and it helps, but I want my screen to be even dimmer, not just color temp to be changed. I was wondering if there's a program or command for this.

If not, I wonder if there is a linux equivalent of this program here for windows (DimScreen), or at least emulate it. For instance, have a black screen be executed, full screen, and "Always on top" (always the fore-most window), and then have some keyboard shortcuts to adjust the transparency of the screen. Maybe it reads the transparency from some file. Just an idea.

I use AwesomeWM, btw, in case that helps.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Strike0 · 2013-06-16 13:06:35

Maybe your notebook has an LED backlight to turn off; in case you did not see this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Backlight

kidou343 · 2013-06-17 02:48:52

The thing is I'm not trying to turn the screen off, I just want it dimmer. I use xbacklight for my general brightness adjuster, but at night even 0 is too bright. I'm trying to find a way to get it dimmer than 0. Redshift is like xflux, so that doesn't help. I'll try out the ACPI stuff and xcalib and post my results here. The other stuff don't seem to do what I need, so unless someone suggests one of them I probably won't go into them. Thanks for the help though Strike0.

kidou343 · 2013-06-21 19:18:55

Ok, so it turns out xcalib does what I want. If I run the command on the wiki page (xcalib -co 40 -a), my screen does get "dimmer" (I guess it's technically "darker", which is the same thing imo). The problem is, it dims, but only for a second. Then it reverts back to normal. So I know it "works," because I see it dim, but it doesn't stay that way. Any ideas? Does something constantly rewrite the contrast value, maybe? Or do I need to write a script that just constantly executes the xcalib command (<-- I'm joking).

Strike0 · 2013-06-23 15:44:53

Hm, sorry I don't have a real idea for you to there. Maybe someone else has though!

I never had the need to try those tools. I'm sure you have tried the "xset" and "dpms" hints in the wiki for the backlight. Perhaps cross-check again the regular backlight dimming, as it is written in the wiki the values are different for different screens.

Given you are using awesome I would have imagined that there should be another way too (by controlling it via the API/rc.lua?). If the xcalib tool achieves the extra effect via colour manipulation, it makes me wonder whether you are not better off looking for a dark preset theme in general.

ewaller · 2013-06-23 17:13:10

Do you know if your back light is LED or CCFL (Cold Cathode Florescent Lamp) ?? The reason I ask is that both use PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to control the luminance, But... LEDs can be driven to extremely low duty cycles, whereas CCFLs have a minimum duty cycle they can achieve below which the plasma collapses and the lamp has to re-strike. This is part of the reason CCFLs are are to use in night vision applications -- there is a minimum output level.

jan_path · 2016-01-03 22:20:40

The reason, why the xcomp setting doesn't stick is because it gets immediately reset by xflux. You can't use xcalib together with xflux. You should however be able, to create the effect of xflux and the dimmig with xcalib.

I know this thread is long dead, but since I found it and had the same problem, others will probably too.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-06-14 07:22:28

Dim Screen Past Minimum Setting

#2 2013-06-16 13:06:35

Re: Dim Screen Past Minimum Setting

#3 2013-06-17 02:48:52

Re: Dim Screen Past Minimum Setting

#4 2013-06-21 19:18:55

Re: Dim Screen Past Minimum Setting

#5 2013-06-23 15:44:53

Re: Dim Screen Past Minimum Setting

#6 2013-06-23 17:13:10

Re: Dim Screen Past Minimum Setting

#7 2016-01-03 22:20:40

Re: Dim Screen Past Minimum Setting

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