Comments on Ubuntu on the Dell Inspiron 1501: Backlight & Brightness Fix

Ubuntu used to do that a lot for me... kernel upda...

2009-01-10T09:50:00.000-06:00

Ubuntu used to do that a lot for me... kernel updates breaking stuff... I now use Mint and Mint doesn't update the kernel until the next release. I prefer it that way because rarely does something break... Besides most kernel updates are trivial in the big picture...

I think the latest kernel update broke the brightn...

2009-01-09T10:22:00.000-06:00

I think the latest kernel update broke the brightness =(

It's stuck a 100%, the command doesn't work either. Worked fine until I updated yesterday!

William's fix for brightness changes when plugging...

2008-11-01T10:11:00.000-05:00

William's fix for brightness changes when plugging/unplugging my 1501 works. I would suggest that one uses separate scripts rather than adding to the 85-anacron.sh or 15-anacron.sh files. In my case, I created 99-brightness.sh files in each directory and added the 'sudo echo' lines to that, rather than the anacron scripts. Not that it really matters as far as whether it works or not, it's just cleaner code that way.

how can i save my current screen brightness (aroun...

2008-10-20T11:19:00.000-05:00

how can i save my current screen brightness (around 30%) as my default screen brightness at startup?
i am using intrepid.
my /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness file is empty.

As a follow up to what I said earlier,

I fo...

2008-09-14T18:12:00.000-05:00

As a follow up to what I said earlier,

I found a way to have the brightness go all the way down when you unplug the laptop! This time, open /etc/acpi/battery.d/15-anacron.sh with 'sudo gedit'.
Add this line:
sudo echo -n 12 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness

It should be working now.
Email me at Techdude300[at]gmail[dot]com if you need any help/have any questions.

Thanks d00d for the awesome fix! I've been thi...

2008-09-14T18:05:00.000-05:00

Thanks d00d for the awesome fix! I've been thinking about what robin said about unplugging/plugging in the laptop. I've found a way for it to automatically set the brightness to full when you plug it in. By using what caleb first said about setting it with the terminal.
Use 'sudo gedit' to edit /etc/acpi/ac.d/85-anacron.sh .
then add the following line:
sudo echo -n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness
Save and close and you should be good to go!
I'll post back if I find a fix to unplugging.

Ubuntu for life!
-William

Great! It works, d00d. :-) Thanks a lot.

2008-09-13T10:01:00.000-05:00

Great! It works, d00d. :-) Thanks a lot.

malek and d00d you are geniuses. Thank you for a s...

2008-08-14T21:09:00.000-05:00

malek and d00d you are geniuses. Thank you for a simple fix to a simple problem

thanks, the last fix works for me (editing videobr...

2008-07-06T15:18:00.000-05:00

thanks, the last fix works for me (editing videobrightness*.sh), but what about when we unplug/replug AC ? I can see that Ubuntu tries to set the brightness level to the minimum, but it has no effect. I guess it as to do with power.sh. What needs to be done?

Thanks a lot dOOd

I followed your instructi...

2008-05-26T23:12:00.000-05:00

Thanks a lot dOOd

I followed your instructions. Now my brighteness controls work properly.

Millions of thanks to malek and d00d!!

Can'...

2008-05-19T15:45:00.000-05:00

Millions of thanks to malek and d00d!!

Can't believe could exist such an elegant and easy solution to this entangled problem...

No need of downgrading BIOS, no need of any trouble; in a couple of minutes brightness keys work just fine.

Again, thank you very much malek and d00d; you deserve a big hooray!!

BRAVO!

I'm having Ubuntu 8.04 with BIOS ver 2.6.1 and bri...

2008-04-30T14:38:00.000-05:00

I'm having Ubuntu 8.04 with BIOS ver 2.6.1 and brightness, suspend and hibernate do not work

For what it's worth, I threw together a ruby-gtk v...

2008-04-08T15:58:00.000-05:00

For what it's worth, I threw together a ruby-gtk version of the gnome-brightness-applet that works using Shane and Marcelo's techniques:

http://dcberner.blogspot.com/2008/04/its-rubygtk-time-again.html

Enjoy.

hi drew,

there is a utility to upgrade the ...

2008-04-04T04:19:00.000-05:00

hi drew,

there is a utility to upgrade the BIOS... read these instructions here:

http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/12/05/37446.aspx

http://www.ubuntu-unleashed.com/2007/09/howto-easily-upgrade-dell-bios-in.html

its pretty easy.

How do you upgrade your BIOS back? I get some erro...

2008-04-03T20:02:00.000-05:00

How do you upgrade your BIOS back? I get some error every time I try going from 1.7 to latest.

I need to upgrade my bios but now I can't. Some er...

2008-04-03T01:37:00.000-05:00

I need to upgrade my bios but now I can't. Some error I get. ;(

Very nice Malek.
In case you cant read russian:...

2008-03-18T15:30:00.000-05:00

Very nice Malek.
In case you cant read russian:

1. backup /etc/acpi/video_brightnessup.sh
and /etc/acpi/videobrightnessdown.sh

2. sudo gedit the first one

3. replace everything in it with:

#!/bin/bash

CURRENT=$(grep "current:" /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness |awk '{print $2}')

case "$CURRENT" in

100)
echo -n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
87)
echo -n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
75)
echo -n 87 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
62)
echo -n 75 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
50)
echo -n 62 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
37)
echo -n 50 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
25)
echo -n 37 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
12)
echo -n 25 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
*)
echo -n 100 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness ;
;;
esac

4. sudo gedit the second one (brightnessdown) and add:
#!/bin/bash

CURRENT=$(grep "current:" /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness |awk '{print $2}')

case "$CURRENT" in

12)
echo -n 12 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
25)
echo -n 12 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
37)
echo -n 25 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
50)
echo -n 37 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
62)
echo -n 50 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
75)
echo -n 62 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
87)
echo -n 75 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
100)
echo -n 87 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness;
;;
*)
echo -n 50 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness ;
;;
esac

5.save and now your fn+up and down work great.

If fn+up/down don't work, you need to replace 2 fi...

2008-02-28T07:19:00.000-06:00

If fn+up/down don't work, you need to replace 2 files.
Look here.
http://habrahabr.ru/blog/ubuntu/35013.html
It works!

The brightness keys (fn+up/down) work with the new...

2008-02-19T20:19:00.000-06:00

The brightness keys (fn+up/down) work with the new 2.6.24.1 kernel and Gutsy. I have bios version 2.6.2.

Apparently, the "video" kernel modules responsible for the brightness were rewritten in the latest kernel release.
I think hardy heron is going to have the 2.6.24 kernel, so the brightness keys should work by default on the next Ubuntu release.

In addition, suspend and hibernate work with the fglrx drivers.

I coded two functions in C for changing the bright...

2008-01-24T12:03:00.000-06:00

I coded two functions in C for changing the brightness of the screen using the
echo -n XX > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness

so you can run it using Ctrl-UP or Ctrl-Down by configuring Compiz

Remember that this should be run using gksu

http://iie.fing.edu.uy/~mdavid/1501brightness.tar.gz

You will see some lame programming in these functions... advises are welcome ;)

Try typing the following command in a terminal:
2008-01-19T16:58:00.000-06:00
Try typing the following command in a terminal:

xgamma -gamma 0.75

If that doesn't work you need to install xgamma from the repos.

I have posted my own solution here on setting it up:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4168042#post4168042

Try typing the following command in a terminal:
2008-01-19T16:57:00.000-06:00
Try typing the following command in a terminal:

xgamma -gamma 0.75

If that doesn't work you need to install xgamma from the repos.

I have posted my own solution here on setting it up:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=4168042#post4168042

Here is a gui way to change the brightness without...

2008-01-14T19:39:00.000-06:00

Here is a gui way to change the brightness without rolling back the bios.

Make sure zenity is installed, go to Synaptic Package Manager and search for Zenity.
Thanks to Shane for the script, I modified it slightly.

1. Download files from here: http://tp-txdp4282.content-type.com/48395805/68030/1408338/1/screenbrightness.zip
2. Extract files.
3. Go to Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
4. Type in: sudo nautilus
5. Click Go -> Location (Ctrl+L)
6. Enter /usr/bin
7. Paste set-brightness into /usr/bin
8. Press reload to make sure the script is there.

Optional
1. "Put Set Brightness Icon" on the desktop.
2. Rightclick the icon -> properties
3. Click the image in the upper left hand corner, find the icon image.

I finally managed to downgrade to bios version 1.7...

2008-01-11T11:51:00.000-06:00

I finally managed to downgrade to bios version 1.7 without having to install windows. It's pretty easy with Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD.

That's what I did:
First I built a bootable live cd with the PEBuilder (http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/). It requires a Windows-Installation-CD. Afterwards I runned the downloades bios-flash-utility (downloaded from dell homepage) from a fat-partition of the hd (i should work with a flash-stick too). Every thing worked allright. I'm so glad that I didn't need to install Windows only in order to downgrade the bios!
So I hope it helps!

Anyway I got one question: is it necessary to reinstall ubuntu after downgrading bios to version 1.7? Ubuntu seems to work fine (the brightness-Buttons finally work!), but I still got this bios-bug-message right after booting.

Did somebody try µswsusp? You can find it here: ht...

2007-12-31T05:16:00.000-06:00

Did somebody try µswsusp? You can find it here: http://suspend.sourceforge.net/ I didn't because I'm using linux for 5 days, and I'm not sure if I would do it well...
...and Happy New Year ;-)

Comments on Ubuntu on the Dell Inspiron 1501: Backlight & Brightness Fix

Ubuntu used to do that a lot for me... kernel upda...

I think the latest kernel update broke the brightn...

William's fix for brightness changes when plugging...

how can i save my current screen brightness (aroun...

As a follow up to what I said earlier,I fo...

Thanks d00d for the awesome fix! I've been thi...

Great! It works, d00d. :-) Thanks a lot.

malek and d00d you are geniuses. Thank you for a s...

thanks, the last fix works for me (editing videobr...

Thanks a lot dOOdI followed your instructi...

Millions of thanks to malek and d00d!!Can'...

I'm having Ubuntu 8.04 with BIOS ver 2.6.1 and bri...

For what it's worth, I threw together a ruby-gtk v...

hi drew,there is a utility to upgrade the ...

How do you upgrade your BIOS back? I get some erro...

I need to upgrade my bios but now I can't. Some er...

Very nice Malek.In case you cant read russian:...

If fn+up/down don't work, you need to replace 2 fi...

The brightness keys (fn+up/down) work with the new...

I coded two functions in C for changing the bright...

Here is a gui way to change the brightness without...

I finally managed to downgrade to bios version 1.7...

Did somebody try µswsusp? You can find it here: ht...

As a follow up to what I said earlier,

I fo...

Thanks a lot dOOd

I followed your instructi...

Millions of thanks to malek and d00d!!

Can'...

hi drew,

there is a utility to upgrade the ...

Very nice Malek.
In case you cant read russian:...