From X Windows

From X Windows you can use the application xbacklight to get and set the percent brightness for your screen.

Example

current level

$ xbacklight -get 100.000000 

set to 75%

$ xbacklight -set 75 $ xbacklight -get 73.333333 

set back to 100%

$ xbacklight -set 100 $ xbacklight -get 100.000000 

From the console

To achieve something similar for a virtual terminal you'll likely need to interact with the ACPI settings via the /sys filesystem.

Example

dims it

$ echo "10" | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness 10 

full brightness

$ echo "15" | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness 15 

You'll have to play with this one, the range of brightnesses can be from 0-9 or 0-15, I believe it ultimately depends on your laptop.

None of this works?

If neither of these 2 options suites your needs take a look at the ArchLinux Wiki's topic titled: Backlight. That article contains every method I've ever seen employed to achieve this!

References

• xbacklight man page
• How can I change brightness through terminal

From X Windows

From X Windows you can use the application xbacklight to get and set the percent brightness for your screen.

Example

current level

$ xbacklight -get 100.000000 

set to 75%

$ xbacklight -set 75 $ xbacklight -get 73.333333 

set back to 100%

$ xbacklight -set 100 $ xbacklight -get 100.000000 

From the console

To achieve something similar for a virtual terminal you'll likely need to interact with the ACPI settings via the /sys filesystem.

Example

dims it

$ echo "10" | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness 10 

full brightness

$ echo "15" | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness 15 

You'll have to play with this one, the range of brightnesses can be from 0-9 or 0-15, I believe it ultimately depends on your laptop.

None of this works?

If neither of these 2 options suites your needs take a look at the ArchLinux Wiki's topic titled: Backlight. That article contains every method I've ever seen employed to achieve this!

References

• xbacklight man page
• How can I change brightness through terminal

From X Windows

From X Windows you can use the application xbacklight to get and set the percent brightness for your screen.

Example

current level

$ xbacklight -get 100.000000 

set to 75%

$ xbacklight -set 75 $ xbacklight -get 73.333333 

set back to 100%

$ xbacklight -set 100 $ xbacklight -get 100.000000 

From the console

To achieve something similar for a virtual terminal you'll likely need to interact with the ACPI settings via the /sys filesystem.

Example

dims it

$ echo "10" | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness 10 

full brightness

$ echo "15" | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness 15 

You'll have to play with this one, the range of brightnesses can be from 0-9 or 0-15, I believe it ultimately depends on your laptop.

References

• xbacklight man page
• How can I change brightness through terminal

From X Windows

From X Windows you can use the application xbacklight to get and set the percent brightness for your screen.

Example

current level

$ xbacklight -get 100.000000 

set to 75%

$ xbacklight -set 75 $ xbacklight -get 73.333333 

set back to 100%

$ xbacklight -set 100 $ xbacklight -get 100.000000 

From the console

To achieve something similar for a virtual terminal you'll likely need to interact with the ACPI settings via the /sys filesystem.

Example

dims it

$ echo "10" | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness 10 

full brightness

$ echo "15" | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness 15 

You'll have to play with this one, the range of brightnesses can be from 0-9 or 0-15, I believe it ultimately depends on your laptop.

None of this works?

If neither of these 2 options suites your needs take a look at the ArchLinux Wiki's topic titled: Backlight. That article contains every method I've ever seen employed to achieve this!

References

• xbacklight man page
• How can I change brightness through terminal