Edit display brightness control step size

Fn+ F8/F9 works to adjust the display brightness level down/up. But they do so in rather large steps. My main issue is at night. Adjusting to the lowest level, the backlight is off. Then, when going one step up, it’s rather bright. I have to use the slider on the battery right-click menu in order to turn the brightness down to a suitable level. Is there a way to make the buttons do smaller steps?

2 Likes

Yeah I have problem with that too! The brightness seem to go down by too much or go up by too much. For example: the lowest brightness seem to make it look like my display is broken

Somewhere there must be some software controlling this. Which means there should be a setting to modify somewhere. I tried installing windows, and there I got a bunch of small steps on the brightness hotkeys. Hopefully someone knows where that setting is.

1 Like

also hey, we’re both n’s

Hello,

Both have to check from terminal, depending on video graphics model what this command shows:
ls /sys/class/backlight/

Then, depending what backlight utility you installed, then it can be set to have a different steps values for increase or decrease:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/backlight

There is also a good way to provide information, so we can help you out without guessing, or sending you to the wiki. Here it is:

Once you gathered that information, let us know.

1 Like

ls /sys/class/backlight/ output:

intel_backlight

inxi:

System:
  Kernel: 5.7.15-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.1.0 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.7-x86_64 
  root=UUID=8b52075a-cc53-4c8c-a229-1e76d00bb873 rw quiet apparmor=1 
  security=apparmor resume=UUID=134479e5-249b-4711-8ceb-f67b95f02015 
  udev.log_priority=3 
  Desktop: MATE 1.24.0 info: mate-panel wm: marco 1.24.0 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Manjaro Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20DM000VUS v: ThinkPad S3 Yoga 14 
  serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: LENOVO model: 20DM000VUS v: SDK0E50512 STD serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: LENOVO v: JGET34WW (1.20 ) date: 12/04/2018 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: N/A condition: N/A volts: N/A model: N/A type: Li-ion 
  serial: <filter> status: Charging 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5-4210U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Haswell family: 6 model-id: 45 (69) stepping: 1 microcode: 26 
  L2 cache: 3072 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 19160 
  Speed: 798 MHz min/max: 800/2700 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 798 2: 798 3: 798 
  4: 799 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Split huge pages 
  Type: l1tf 
  mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable 
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable 
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
  Type: spec_store_bypass 
  mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
  Type: spectre_v1 
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, 
  IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB filling 
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode 
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:0a16 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM108M [GeForce 840M] vendor: Lenovo driver: nvidia 
  v: 440.100 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm bus ID: 04:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1341 
  Device-3: Chicony Integrated Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus ID: 1-7:4 
  chip ID: 04f2:b46a serial: <filter> 
  Display: x11 server: X.org 1.20.8 compositor: marco v: 1.24.0 
  driver: modesetting,nvidia alternate: fbdev,intel,nouveau,nv,vesa 
  resolution: <xdpyinfo missing> 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 4400 (HSW GT2) 
  v: 4.5 Mesa 20.1.5 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:03.0 chip ID: 8086:0a0c 
  Device-2: Intel 8 Series HD Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:9c20 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.7.15-1-MANJARO 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless 7260 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: efa0 
  bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 8086:08b2 
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 480.68 GiB used: 14.95 GiB (3.1%) 
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST500LT012-9WS142 size: 465.76 GiB 
  block size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s 
  rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> rev: SDM1 scheme: GPT 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: SanDisk model: SSD U110 16GB size: 14.91 GiB 
  block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> 
  rev: 001 scheme: MBR 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw size: 25.39 GiB size: 24.87 GiB (97.94%) used: 9.82 GiB (39.5%) 
  fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda8 
  ID-2: /home raw size: 125.98 GiB size: 123.50 GiB (98.03%) 
  used: 5.13 GiB (4.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda9 
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 10 (default 60) cache pressure: 100 (default) 
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 3.91 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
  dev: /dev/sda7 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 51.0 C mobo: 40.0 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Info:
  Processes: 215 Uptime: 41m Memory: 7.69 GiB used: 1.67 GiB (21.7%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 Compilers: gcc: 10.1.0 Packages: 1136 pacman: 1131 
  lib: 341 flatpak: 5 Shell: Bash v: 5.0.18 running in: mate-terminal 
  inxi: 3.1.05

Yes, but your laptop has hibrid graphics.

In principle you could make use of this:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/backlight#xbacklight
ans what follow with the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf file …
Hopefully someone that owns a hybrid GPU Laptop will come by and point you the right direction.

2 Likes

# ls /sys/class/backlight/

intel_backlight

# inxi -Fazy

System:
Kernel: 5.7.15-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.1.0
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.7-x86_64
root=UUID=b71e4128-01e3-4565-97ec-2fa0745987aa rw apparmor=1
security=apparmor resume=UUID=daf0114f-9ff9-4f2e-884d-24924538c92b
udev.log_priority=3
Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 tk: Gtk 3.24.20 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4
dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Manjaro Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: SCHENKER product: SCHENKER_VIA_14_SVI14E20 v: N/A
serial: N/A Chassis: Notebook type: 10 serial: N/A
Mobo: SCHENKER model: L140CU serial: N/A UEFI: INSYDE v: 1.07.08
date: 03/27/2020
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 71.8 Wh condition: 74.4/73.9 Wh (101%) volts: 8.6/7.7
model: Notebook BAT type: Li-ion serial: status: Discharging
CPU:
Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-10210U socket: BGA1528 (U3E1)
note: check bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Kaby Lake family: 6
model-id: 8E (142) stepping: C (12) microcode: D6 L2 cache: 6144 KiB
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
bogomips: 33615
Speed: 1802 MHz min/max: 400/4200 MHz base/boost: 1485/8300 volts: 0.8 V
ext-clock: 100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1786 2: 1705 3: 1748 4: 1763
5: 1779 6: 1717 7: 1705 8: 1782
Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Split huge pages
Type: l1tf status: Not affected
Type: mds status: Not affected
Type: meltdown status: Not affected
Type: spec_store_bypass
mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp
Type: spectre_v1
mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB filling
Type: srbds mitigation: TSX disabled
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics vendor: CLEVO/KAPOK driver: i915 v: kernel
bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:9b41
Device-2: Chicony Chicony USB2.0 Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo
bus ID: 1-7:2 chip ID: 04f2:b684 serial:
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: intel unloaded: modesetting
alternate: fbdev,vesa display ID: :0.0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.0x11.2")
s-diag: 582mm (22.9")
Monitor-1: eDP1 res: 1920x1080 dpi: 157 size: 310x170mm (12.2x6.7")
diag: 354mm (13.9")
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics (CML GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.1.5
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel vendor: CLEVO/KAPOK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:02c8
Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.7.15-1-MANJARO
Network:
Device-1: Intel Wireless-AC 9462 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 3000
bus ID: 00:14.3 chip ID: 8086:02f0
IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac:
IF-ID-1: bridge0 state: down mac:
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 12.14 GiB (1.3%)
SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Kingston model: SA2000M81000G size: 931.51 GiB
block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4
serial: rev: S5Z42105 scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 vendor: Micron model: 2200 MTFDHBA512TCK size: 476.94 GiB
block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4
serial: rev: P1MU003
Partition:
ID-1: / raw size: 9.77 GiB size: 9.55 GiB (97.79%) used: 525.8 MiB (5.4%)
fs: ext4 block size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3
ID-2: /usr raw size: 11.72 GiB size: 11.47 GiB (97.90%)
used: 7.15 GiB (62.4%) fs: ext4 block size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p5
ID-3: /var raw size: 4.88 GiB size: 4.74 GiB (97.15%) used: 1.76 GiB (37.0%)
fs: ext4 block size: 4096 B dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 25.55 GiB used: 11.5 MiB (0.0%)
priority: -2 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 42.0 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
Processes: 358 Uptime: 1d 21h 49m Memory: 23.23 GiB used: 6.46 GiB (27.8%)
Init: systemd v: 245 Compilers: gcc: 10.1.0 Packages: pacman: 1126 lib: 339
flatpak: 0 Shell: Bash (su) v: 5.0.18 running in: xfce4-terminal
inxi: 3.1.05

I don’'t have many configfiles under X11:
# ls /etc/X11/

/etc/X11/:
mhwd.d xinit xorg.conf.d

/etc/X11/mhwd.d:

/etc/X11/xinit:
xinitrc xinitrc.d xserverrc

/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d:
40-libcanberra-gtk-module.sh 50-systemd-user.sh

/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d:
00-keyboard.conf

My system does not have the xbacklight command.

That is what your system is using tho, so you have to install xbacklight package, so the command is available.
For any other issues, as mentioned, this is the way to go:

Since your system only has one GPU, intel, should be a lot more easier. Let us know how it goes.

Does it make sense to install another package for setting the brightness when the problem is not setting the brightness? As the setting works perfectly using the slider, I would guess it’s a keyboard issue. The command sent to the OS when the key is pressed is what I think should be modified.

Try this:

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