Is there any brightness control for desktops?

Solution 1:

On this site, a while ago I found an nice script from someone. THIS IS NOT MINE!

I am using it ever since on my netbook, running Xubuntu and it seems to run on anything.

For reasons of not posting a link-only answer, here it is:

#!/usr/bin/env python

from gi.repository import Gtk
import subprocess

class BrightnessScale:
    def __init__(self):
        # get active monitor and current brightness
        self.monitor = self.getActiveMonitor()
        self.currB = self.getCurrentBrightness()

    def initUI(self):
        # initliaze and configure window 
        window = Gtk.Window()
        window.set_title('Brightness Scale')
        window.set_default_size(250, 50)
        window.set_position(Gtk.WindowPosition.CENTER)
        window.set_border_width(10)

        # slider configuration
        self.adjustment = Gtk.Adjustment(self.currB, 0, 100, 1, 10, 0)
        self.scale = Gtk.HScale()
        self.scale.set_adjustment(self.adjustment)
        self.scale.set_digits(0)

        # close Gtk thread on closing window
        window.connect("destroy", lambda w: Gtk.main_quit())

        # setup event handler on value-changed
        self.scale.connect("value-changed", self.scale_moved)

        # add the scale to window
        window.add(self.scale)

        # show all components in window
        window.show_all()

        # close window on pressing escape key
        accGroup = Gtk.AccelGroup()
        key, modifier = Gtk.accelerator_parse('Escape')
        accGroup.connect(key, modifier, Gtk.AccelFlags.VISIBLE, Gtk.main_quit)
        window.add_accel_group(accGroup)

    def showErrDialog(self):
        self.errDialog = Gtk.MessageDialog(None, 
                                           Gtk.DialogFlags.MODAL,
                                           Gtk.MessageType.ERROR,
                                           Gtk.ButtonsType.OK,
                                           "Unable to detect active monitor, run 'xrandr --verbose' on command-line for more info")
        self.errDialog.set_title("brightness control error")
        self.errDialog.run()
        self.errDialog.destroy()

    def initStatus(self):
        if(self.monitor == "" or self.currB == ""):
            return False
        return True

    def getActiveMonitor(self):
        #Find display monitor
        monitor = subprocess.check_output("xrandr -q | grep ' connected' | cut -d ' ' -f1", shell=True)
        if(monitor != ""):
            monitor = monitor.split('\n')[0]
        return monitor

    def getCurrentBrightness(self):
        #Find current brightness
        currB = subprocess.check_output("xrandr --verbose | grep -i brightness | cut -f2 -d ' '", shell=True)
        if(currB != ""):
            currB = currB.split('\n')[0]
            currB = int(float(currB) * 100)
        else:
            currB = ""
        return currB

    def scale_moved(self, event):
        #Change brightness
        newBrightness = float(self.scale.get_value())/100
        cmd = "xrandr --output %s --brightness %.2f" % (self.monitor, newBrightness)
        cmdStatus = subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    # new instance of BrightnessScale
    brcontrol = BrightnessScale()
    if(brcontrol.initStatus()):
        # if everything ok, invoke UI and start Gtk thread loop
        brcontrol.initUI()
        Gtk.main()
    else:
        # show error dialog
        brcontrol.showErrDialog()

How to use

• Paste the script into an empty file, save it as brightness_set in ~/bin (you probably have to create the directory). Make it executable

• Add it to a shortcut key: Choose: System Settings > "Keyboard" > "Shortcuts" > "Custom Shortcuts". Click the "+" and add the command:

  brightness_set
  

• Log out and back in and it should work

Edit

To make a nice set, you could make the slider available in Dash, the Launcher or any other application menu, by adding a .desktop file in ~/.local/share/applications

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Brightness Scale
Icon=/path/to/set_brightness.png
Exec=brightness_set
OnlyShowIn=Unity;

• In the Icon= line, set the path to the icon. Yopu can choose your own icon, or save the icon below as set_brightness.png:

  

• In the Exec= line, the assumption is that the script is in $PATH (which includes ~/bin on Ubuntu), and executable

Solution 2:

This does not make your brightness function keys work, but is a workround.

Install Brightness Controller with the following commands: Install Brightness Controller with the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:apandada1/brightness-controller
sudo apt-get update

For Version 1 with up to 4 Monitor Support:

sudo apt-get install brightness-controller

sudo apt-get install brightness-controller-simple

For Version 2 with Multi Monitor Support and other features: You can control brightness of two monitors using its sliders.

sudo apt-get install brightness-controller

_{(source: ubuntu.com)}

Solution 3:

A script to make setting the brightness more easier, based on xrandr and zenity:

#! /bin/bash

displays=($(xrandr | awk '/ connected /{print $1}'))

if (( ${#displays[@]} > 1 ))
then
    selected_display="$(zenity --list --title 'Select Display' --radiolist --column '' --column 'Display' $(xrandr | awk '/ connected /{print NR,$1}'))"
else
    selected_display="${displays[0]}"
fi

zenity --scale --title "Set brightness of $selected_display" --value=100 --print-partial |
while read brightness
do
    xrandr --output "$selected_display" --brightness $(awk '{print $1/100}' <<<"$brightness"})
done

Install Zenity and xrandr:

sudo apt-get install x11-xserver-utils zenity

Save the script somewhere, make it executable (chmod +x some-script.sh), make a launcher if you wish. Then you can run the script and use this GUI to set the brightness.

Screenshots: