Arch Linux

LucasBiazi

Member

Registered: 2020-11-11

Posts: 111

Keyboard Backlight Color Selection

Greetings.

I've been looking around for information regarding the backlight (leds under the keyboard) in laptops that use Linux. Thought there are some softwares that control the luminosity of it as described here in the wiki, this is not main issue. In fact, the shortcuts: FN + F5/F6 (luminosity shortcuts) work just fine. My problem is the color. On boot, the keyboard is a rainbow, changing colors all the time, constantly. As soon as I start X, it changes to a blue and keeps itself like that until I turn off the machine. I wish to change this color to something else (ideally white). I've tried openRGB but had no luck with that one.

I also went for some information about my hardware but didn't quite find much:

$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:0129 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5129 Card Reader Controller
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 8087:0026 Intel Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 5986:9101 Acer, Inc HD Webcam
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

$hwinfo --short
keyboard:
  /dev/input/event6    AT Translated Set 2 keyboard

I own a machine that is mounted in Brazil, so it is likely that you won't be able to find it all around, but it is called: "A62 LIV Standard". It is shipped with Windows and it presents an application to change the colors and other stuff. The company does not support Linux.

Upon further experiments I can tell that the system does not recognize the FN key as well, once I did: $xev and nothing happened when I pressed it.

I'm on KDE Plasma, and apparently the keyboard layout is set to 86 keys, which I suppose isn't the right one, however everything, except the fn key, seems to work just fine. I'm also using GRUB and X11.

I also appear to have:

$ ls /sys/class/backlight/
intel_backlight

though I don't know what it does...

Do any of you have any tips on where to look/find more about it? I also wish to change span time that the lights stay on...

All inputs are appreciated, thanks in advance.

Last edited by LucasBiazi (2021-06-08 18:29:28)

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LucasBiazi

Member

Registered: 2020-11-11

Posts: 111

Re: Keyboard Backlight Color Selection

Found very useful information in here. I was thinking about cloning one of the following folders I have under:

$ ls /sys/class/leds/
input6::capslock  input6::numlock  input6::scrolllock  mmc0::  phy0-led

and use the suggested LED name: input5::kbd_backlight (though I'm unsure about the 'input5' section, since the others are actually 6...) then edit it as I wish. Has anybody ever done such thing in here? I only worry about it being risky/dangerous for my hardware, since I'm a stranger to this part of coding. My specialization is more Java/WEB5...

EDIT:
Found another one under /backlight:

$ ls /sys/class/backlight/
intel_backlight

I've look around and I can't seem to find the "kbd_backlight" virtual folder.

Additional info:

$ hwinfo --keyboard
27: PS/2 00.0: 10800 Keyboard                                   
  [Created at input.226]
  Unique ID: WQTM.+49ps10DtUF
  Hardware Class: keyboard
  Model: "AT Translated Set 2 keyboard"
  Vendor: 0x0001 
  Device: 0x0001 "AT Translated Set 2 keyboard"
  Compatible to: int 0x0211 0x0001
  Device File: /dev/input/event6
  Device Files: /dev/input/event6, /dev/input/by-path/platform-i8042-serio-0-event-kbd
  Device Number: char 13:70
  Driver Info #0:
    XkbRules: xfree86
    XkbModel: pc104
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown

Last edited by LucasBiazi (2021-06-09 22:24:00)

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Always backup important files when editing it.

ZulluBalti

Member

Registered: 2021-04-07

Posts: 47

Re: Keyboard Backlight Color Selection

Hi, did you find any solution?