Control screen brightness on laptop

[h2sammo]

I tried two different HP laptops. No built-in control over screen brightness. How do i enable?

[Rich]

Hi h2sammo
Maybe  laptop-mode-tools.tcz  has something that can help with that.

[Juanito]

If you have intel graphics hardware you could try Xorg-7.7/xf86-video-intel, which provides xf86-video-intel-backlight-helper.

If you only need to set the screen to maximum brightness, loading graphics-KERNEL might help.

Edit: with xf86-video-intel loaded, you can also adjust things manually:

Code: [Select]

$ cat /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/max_brightness
937

$ echo 500 | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness


[h2sammo]

i have VA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0b)

currently no assigned driver.

i installed xf-86-video-intel on demand but it didnt load the module. how do i enable this? currently there is nothing under /sys/class/backlight

also installed laptop-mode-tools on demand and loaded it but nothing...

please help, thank you

[Juanito]

exit to the console prompt and:

Code: [Select]

$ tce-load -wil graphics-KERNEL Xorg-7.7 xf86-video-intel
$ startx

[Rich]

Hi h2sammo

I installed xf-86-video-intel on demand but it didnt load the module. how do i enable this?

Move it from  OnDemand  to  OnBoot.

[h2sammo]

i added laptop-tools and xf-86-video-intel to boot. now i see a module assigned to VGA controller:

Code: [Select]

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0b)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 227e
Kernel driver in use: i915

however, i still have no control  over brightness function keys, nor do i have full access over the keyboard as the sound function keys also dont work, scrolling from the touchpad doesnt work, etc.

[Juanito]

Did you load graphics-KERNEL and Xorg-7.7 as well as xf86-video-intel?

Edit: I have exactly the same graphics hardware and it works for me

[h2sammo]

ok i added graphics-KERNEL and Xorg-7.7 to onboot as well and now i can modify screen brightness from command line as i was advised above. however, keyboard function keys still dont work. the touchpad and touchscreen are still wack. i cannot scroll with two fingers, i do not have "right click" touchpad functions, etc.

Code: [Select]

tc@box:~$ cat /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/max_brightness
937
tc@box:~$ echo 500 | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness
500


[Juanito]

You could try the xf86-input-synaptics extension for your touchpad - it might need an xorg config snippet to configure it to your taste.

What make/model are the touchpad and touchscreen?

[h2sammo]

i added xf86-input-synaptics to onboot. i do not notice any difference.

i  basically switch between two HP laptops between work and home. The one at home is a 15.6 in pavilion, 15-p143cl, the one at work is a pro model with GeForce video card i do not know the model now. Neither model has the touchpad or keyboard being recognized (function keys do not work in either case). no control over brithness, volume, etc from function key. also the touchscreen recognizes my finger but the response is erratic with menu options appearing in locations different to my finger touch, etc.

[Juanito]

For both the touchpad and touchscreen, the make/model from lspci/lsusb/Xorg.0.log/libinput are needed for further troubleshooting:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/touchscreen
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Touchpad_Synaptics
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Libinput

Google suggests the bootcode "acpi_osi=" for the function keys.

[Juanito]

One further thing you could try, but only in CorePure64, is to edit Xorg-7.7.tcz.dep:

xf86-input-evdev.tcz -> xf86-input-libinput.tcz

Then use the apps gui or tce-load to download xf86-input-libinput and reboot.

You can then use this to find your touchpad and touchscreen:

Code: [Select]

$ grep -e "Using input driver 'libinput'" /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Once found, you can find changeable properties with, for example:

Code: [Select]

$ xinput list-props "AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"
..and change properties in real time with, for example:

Code: [Select]

$ xinput disable "AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"
..and modify properties permanently in /usr/local/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf

[curaga]

In case it's not clear, you can't expect the function keys and touchpad to automatically work 100% like in Windows. You will need to configure both, and in different ways depending on the manufacturers.

[h2sammo]

i appreciate the help. i think tinycore is a great distro and i think we can add more value to it. you guys are the experts. as a user, i run fatdog and tinycore from the same USB stick and I am having the problems i mentioned with tinycore. I appreciate the time you are putting in this project for our consumption.

i attached the Xorg log. i think some GUI tool for doing all the interface selection would be helpful. I have tinkered with Xorg file configs in the past but i am not as versatile with it as i would like.

cheers!