G4 MacBook debian 8.4 Jessie screen dim at beginning. function key on

babbab · 05-12-2016, 06:29 PM

I have old G4 MacBook and installed debian 8.4 Jessie.
I managed it working wifi and Ethernet with firmware installed.

But when it starts up and starts X, screen is dim. I have to press brightness key everytime it boots to X.
May be something to do with systmed.

does anyone have solution to this screen dimming problem?

and function key is pressed instead of F1, F2 ...
can anyone find a solution to key problem, too?

Thanks

notKlaatu · 05-12-2016, 07:07 PM

I'm running Debian on the 2004 iBook, should be in the series you are speaking of. Mine's a 12" I think. I'm not sitting in front of it at the moment, so at least my initial answer will be vague, but it might lead you in the right direction.

Screen brightness is controlled by /proc or /sys. Do a find in those directories and try to locate the 'brightness' setting.

Alternately, the xbacklight package might help. Install it and test it out; if it works, put a call to it in .xinitrc or similar.

babbab · 05-12-2016, 07:41 PM

I know it's in something like this
/sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
and give it a value with echo.

The problem is it loses value every time it boots.
I tried rc.local but didn't work

babbab · 05-12-2016, 08:36 PM

I managed screen dimming problem by put value with echo in /sys backlight brightness
turns out my debian system uses lightdm so I edit lightdm.conf to run a script after X starts before login

So I managed it.

But I haven't found solution for function key. it press function key instead of F1, F2, F3..
What controls keyboard key? does anyone know?

notKlaatu · 05-12-2016, 08:44 PM

You probably know that the fn key will switch those keys to F1, F2, and so on.

I don't know how to change them outside the GUI, but I believe it might be an option in a control panel of your desktop environment.