[ltp] T61 brightness control - partial solution
Homer (Tony) Stavely
linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org
Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:48:40 -0400
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Dear All,
My 64-bit Gutsy install on a t61 about 6 weeks ago doesn't have any problem
with the brightness or volume control buttons. They work as expected, the
volume control including the little graphic display of the orange fill going
up or down to indicate volume level. Who knows what I did differently -- I
think I used the console, non-GUI installation disk.
Sleep and hibernate even work, or seem to. As far as I know, sleep is
normal. Hibernate, on the other hand, used to sometimes prompt a little
balloon on the lower right upon waking up saying that the computer didn't
sleep properly and I should read the help regarding sleep. If I unplugged
the computer during the period of hibernation then the power indicator on
the top panel comes up indicating it's recharging (I having plugged it back
in on restart). Lately that little alert balloon has stopped popping up.
Unfortunately I don't know what log to read and what to look for when I do.
Googling hasn't turned up a discussion of this behavior. All suggestion or
insight will be gratefully appreciated.
Best wishes,
Tony
On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 4:47 PM, Jimmy Wu <
jimmywu013+linux-thinkpad@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 3:42 PM, John Jason Jordan <johnxj@comcast.net>
> wrote:
> > On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:30:17 -0600
> > Pablo Vera <pvera@vercan.com> dijo:
> >
> >
> > > I have a new T61 on which I installed Ubuntu Gutsy 64 bits. Almost
> > > everything is working perfect, I've been able to do everything I need
> > > (well except open one specific web page from my bank that uses a
> Java
> > > applet that doesn't initializes).
> > >
> > > But there are two small things that doesn't work: the volume and
> > > brightness controls. The OSD pops up and I see how they are updated
> by
> > > the press of the buttons, but neither volume, nor brightness changes.
>
> I have a T61 running Debian Sid. The Fn+Home and Fn+End work in that
> they change the screen brightness, though nothing pops up to indicate
> the current level. I counted 16 levels of brightness on the way down
> from max to lowest. The buttons worked out of the box on a Debian
> install. I have the thinkpad_acpi module loaded, but from what I read
> in the documentation, the brightness keys are handled by the firmware
> rather than the module itself.
>
>
> > I have a T61 and had the same problems. I never need the brightness
> > controls because I always want it on the highest setting anyway, which
> > is where it is by default. [...]
>
> It's useful when you're on battery to save power.
>
> > [...] I did find, however, that the volume
> > controls work if you upgrade the BIOS.
>
> Hmm - I should try that. That's at the hardware level right? If you
> have instructions that you could post, that would be great. Right now,
> the way I have sound work is to have my desktop environment (in my
> case xfce4) capture the XFree86AudioRaiseVolume and
> XFree86AudioLowerVolume keys and then trigger amixer.
>
> Also, I have my keyboard model in xorg.conf set to thinkpad instead of
> pc104, which I believe is the default. I am not sure if that changes
> the brightness or volume keys (probably not), but it does assign the
> XFree86Forward and XFree86Back keysyms to the two web browser keys by
> the arrow keys, which pc104 did not.
>
> --
> Jimmy Wu
> Registered Linux User #454138
> () ascii ribbon campaign - against html e-mail
> /\ www.asciiribbon.org - against proprietary attachments
> --
> The linux-thinkpad mailing list home page is at:
> http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-thinkpad
>
--
Homer (Tony) Stavely <tstavely at gmail.com>
Teacher, baker, Grandpa, walker in the woods
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Dear All,<br><br>My 64-bit Gutsy install on a t61 about 6 weeks ago doesn't have any problem with the brightness or volume control buttons. They work as expected, the volume control including the little graphic display of the orange fill going up or down to indicate volume level. Who knows what I did differently -- I think I used the console, non-GUI installation disk.<br>
<br>Sleep and hibernate even work, or seem to. As far as I know, sleep is normal. Hibernate, on the other hand, used to sometimes prompt a little balloon on the lower right upon waking up saying that the computer didn't sleep properly and I should read the help regarding sleep. If I unplugged the computer during the period of hibernation then the power indicator on the top panel comes up indicating it's recharging (I having plugged it back in on restart). Lately that little alert balloon has stopped popping up. Unfortunately I don't know what log to read and what to look for when I do. Googling hasn't turned up a discussion of this behavior. All suggestion or insight will be gratefully appreciated.<br>
<br>Best wishes,<br>Tony<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 4:47 PM, Jimmy Wu <<a href="mailto:jimmywu013+linux-thinkpad@gmail.com" target="_blank">jimmywu013+linux-thinkpad@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div>On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 3:42 PM, John Jason Jordan <<a href="mailto:johnxj@comcast.net" target="_blank">johnxj@comcast.net</a>> wrote:<br>
> On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:30:17 -0600<br>
> Pablo Vera <<a href="mailto:pvera@vercan.com" target="_blank">pvera@vercan.com</a>> dijo:<br>
><br>
><br>
> > I have a new T61 on which I installed Ubuntu Gutsy 64 bits. Almost<br>
> > everything is working perfect, I've been able to do everything I need<br>
> > (well except open one specific web page from my bank that uses a Java<br>
> > applet that doesn't initializes).<br>
> ><br>
> > But there are two small things that doesn't work: the volume and<br>
> > brightness controls. The OSD pops up and I see how they are updated by<br>
> > the press of the buttons, but neither volume, nor brightness changes.<br>
<br>
</div>I have a T61 running Debian Sid. The Fn+Home and Fn+End work in that<br>
they change the screen brightness, though nothing pops up to indicate<br>
the current level. I counted 16 levels of brightness on the way down<br>
from max to lowest. The buttons worked out of the box on a Debian<br>
install. I have the thinkpad_acpi module loaded, but from what I read<br>
in the documentation, the brightness keys are handled by the firmware<br>
rather than the module itself.<br>
<div><br>
<br>
> I have a T61 and had the same problems. I never need the brightness<br>
> controls because I always want it on the highest setting anyway, which<br>
</div>> is where it is by default. [...]<br>
<br>
It's useful when you're on battery to save power.<br>
<br>
> [...] I did find, however, that the volume<br>
<div>> controls work if you upgrade the BIOS.<br>
<br>
</div>Hmm - I should try that. That's at the hardware level right? If you<br>
have instructions that you could post, that would be great. Right now,<br>
the way I have sound work is to have my desktop environment (in my<br>
case xfce4) capture the XFree86AudioRaiseVolume and<br>
XFree86AudioLowerVolume keys and then trigger amixer.<br>
<br>
Also, I have my keyboard model in xorg.conf set to thinkpad instead of<br>
pc104, which I believe is the default. I am not sure if that changes<br>
the brightness or volume keys (probably not), but it does assign the<br>
XFree86Forward and XFree86Back keysyms to the two web browser keys by<br>
the arrow keys, which pc104 did not.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
--<br>
Jimmy Wu<br>
Registered Linux User #454138<br>
() ascii ribbon campaign - against html e-mail<br>
/\ <a href="http://www.asciiribbon.org" target="_blank">www.asciiribbon.org</a> - against proprietary attachments<br>
</font><div><div></div><div>--<br>
The linux-thinkpad mailing list home page is at:<br>
<a href="http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-thinkpad" target="_blank">http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-thinkpad</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Homer (Tony) Stavely <tstavely at <a href="http://gmail.com" target="_blank">gmail.com</a>><br>Teacher, baker, Grandpa, walker in the woods
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