Controlling Screen Brightness

droidus · 2020-05-01 23:16:20

I am trying to control my screen brightness. I followed what this page says: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_15_9550. I have a 9550. After adding that text, then re-generating grub.cfg and rebooting, it still does not do anything. I even tried holding down the "Fn" key.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2020-05-01 23:25:37

The page to which you link says the parameter isn't needed any more.

Have you seen https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Backlight?

droidus · 2020-05-03 00:13:39

I was able to modify a file to change the screen brightness. But is there any way to restore functionality to the function keys for screen brightness?

Trilby · 2020-05-03 00:29:17

Restore? If you want the keys to do something, you need to bind them to some process. Some of the big DEs will handle this for you (at least media keys for volume, mute, etc - I'm not as sure about backlight brightness, xfce apparently handles these). But if you are using a simpler WM, you need to do this all yourself.

What WM/DE are you using?

Last edited by Trilby (2020-05-03 00:30:13)

droidus · 2020-05-03 00:41:23

What does DE and WM stand for?

ewaller · 2020-05-03 00:51:37

droidus wrote:

What does DE and WM stand for?

DE --> Desktop Environment. Heavier weight integrated environment such as Gnome, KDE, XFCE4
WM --> Window Manager. Lighter weight environments (sometimes part of a DE) like i3, awesome, openbox, sway.

Also, are you using Xorg or Wayland?

droidus · 2020-05-03 01:09:55

xorg, lxde, and openbox.

Trilby · 2020-05-03 01:16:30

Openbox certainly doesn't automatically handle brightness keys, and I don't think LXDE includes anything that does either. But you can readily bind the keys in your rc.xml for openbox.

This is even explicitly mentioned in the wiki page for openbox:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Op … media_keys
And this is linked to from the LXDE page:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LXDE#Bindings

Last edited by Trilby (2020-05-03 01:18:34)

droidus · 2020-05-03 01:47:08

I tried one of the key bindings already configured, like A(alt)-F4, and nothing happens. It is supposed to close the window.

Trilby · 2020-05-03 01:54:48

You're going to need to give us a lot more than that:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=57855

How did you "try it"? Exactly what did you put in your rc.xml? Did you restart / reload openbox? Does xev still register the keypress or does it register as bound?

droidus · 2020-05-03 11:20:02

<keybind key="A-F4">
   <action name="Close"/>
</keybind>

When I said "I tried", that means I pressed Alt and F4 at the same time to try and close a window, but nothing happened - the window didn't close.
I run the xev command, and when I press that combo, I do not see any events being generated.

droidus · 2020-05-03 11:24:02

Actually running showkey--keycode, it looks like they are being recognized when pressed.

Trilby · 2020-05-03 12:55:11

Trilby wrote:

Exactly what did you put in your rc.xml?

Ok, this one you took literally - but I suppose I should have asked where you put it. Without context it doesn't mean much. Show the whole file (link to it in a file sharing site if needed).

Trilby wrote:

Did you restart / reload openbox? (after making the changes to rc.xml

Did you?

Trilby wrote:

Does xev still register the keypress or does it register as bound?

I didn't ask about showkey. I asked about xev because that's what will actually determine if the key is bound or not.

Last edited by Trilby (2020-05-03 12:55:29)

droidus · 2020-05-03 15:11:15

https://pastebin.com/7cHpiDCe
Yes
I get: "MappingNotify event, serial 48, synthetic NO, window 0x0, request MappingKeyboard, first_keycode 8, count 248". But when I enter that key again or another, it does not populate with a generated event such as this one.

Trilby · 2020-05-03 15:15:27

Thanks. It looks like it's bound. Do other key bindings work (e.g., does lxrandr open from Fn+Screen)?

droidus · 2020-05-03 15:24:27

What do you mean by the "screen" button? I have a PrtScr button, and the other one is to manage displays, etc. I assume you meant the latter?
No, neither did anything. I can open it by running the command though.

Trilby · 2020-05-03 16:20:50

My example referred to the Display button refrenced on line 333. But my question was much simpler: are other bindings set in that file working?

droidus · 2020-05-03 16:38:03

CTRL+ALT+DEL brings up task manager. ALT+ Space works. But when I try W-F1, it doesn't work. So maybe it is just something with the Fn keys specifically?

Trilby · 2020-05-03 16:45:45

Ok, then how about pressing Fn+W+F1 or Fn-A-F4? Many laptops have BIOS options to toggle the function keys to either have F1-FN as the default and Fn+Fn as media keys or vice versa.

droidus · 2020-05-03 16:48:04

Fn-A-F4 closed my window.

Trilby · 2020-05-03 16:52:08

So key bindings work, now we can go back to post #8.

Last edited by Trilby (2020-05-03 16:53:34)

droidus · 2020-05-03 17:54:20

I thought I had recalled somewhere along the way, there is an action that I can add to the rc file, to allow me to change the brightness.

droidus · 2020-05-03 17:57:12

NVM, think I found it here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Op … media_keys. Hopefully it works!

droidus · 2020-05-03 18:03:58

Please refer to line 178. Pressing F11 does not do anything.
https://pastebin.com/hWuWfXUf

2ManyDogs · 2020-05-03 18:23:07

droidus, please stop serial posting (posting several times without a reply in between). If no one has replied, you can edit your post to add information instead of posting again.

Arch Linux

#1 2020-05-01 23:16:20

Controlling Screen Brightness

#2 2020-05-01 23:25:37

Re: Controlling Screen Brightness

#3 2020-05-03 00:13:39

Re: Controlling Screen Brightness

#4 2020-05-03 00:29:17

Re: Controlling Screen Brightness

#5 2020-05-03 00:41:23

Re: Controlling Screen Brightness

#6 2020-05-03 00:51:37

Re: Controlling Screen Brightness

#7 2020-05-03 01:09:55

Re: Controlling Screen Brightness

#8 2020-05-03 01:16:30

Re: Controlling Screen Brightness

#9 2020-05-03 01:47:08

Re: Controlling Screen Brightness

#10 2020-05-03 01:54:48

Re: Controlling Screen Brightness

#11 2020-05-03 11:20:02

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#12 2020-05-03 11:24:02

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#13 2020-05-03 12:55:11

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#14 2020-05-03 15:11:15

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#15 2020-05-03 15:15:27

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#16 2020-05-03 15:24:27

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#17 2020-05-03 16:20:50

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#18 2020-05-03 16:38:03

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#19 2020-05-03 16:45:45

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#20 2020-05-03 16:48:04

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#21 2020-05-03 16:52:08

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#22 2020-05-03 17:54:20

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#23 2020-05-03 17:57:12

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#24 2020-05-03 18:03:58

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#25 2020-05-03 18:23:07

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