The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    keyboard backlight in Ubuntu 12.04 on Chronos 7 NP700Z7C

    Discussion in 'Samsung' started by demon10101, Jun 27, 2012.

  1. demon10101

    demon10101 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I have installed ubuntu 12.04 on Chronos 7 NP700Z7C
    I can't switch on keyboard backlight
    Any ideas?
     
    demon10101, Jun 27, 2012
    #1
  2. pcm2a

    pcm2a Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    45
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I got the opposite problem on my NP700Z5B, mine never turn off.
     
    pcm2a, Jun 28, 2012
    #2
  3. dalingrin

    dalingrin Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    59
    Messages:
    515
    Likes Received:
    27
    Trophy Points:
    41
    i haven't fix the function keys yet but he keyboard backlight can be controlled via sysfs

    /sys/devices/class/leds/
    in that directory you'll find the kbd entry and you just need to echo some number 0-8 into brightness.
     
    dalingrin, Jun 28, 2012
    #3
  4. demon10101

    demon10101 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    where is no folder class in folder /sys/devices/ at my Ubuntu 12.04
     
    demon10101, Jun 28, 2012
    #4
  5. dalingrin

    dalingrin Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    59
    Messages:
    515
    Likes Received:
    27
    Trophy Points:
    41
    Sorry, I wasn't in front of my computer.
    The folder is: /sys/class/leds/samsung\:\:kbd_backlight

    Example: echo 3 > /sys/class/leds/samsung\:\:kbd_backlight/brightness

    To my surprise this is preserved beyond a reboot.
     
    dalingrin, Jun 28, 2012
    #5
  6. demon10101

    demon10101 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    where is no folder samsung in folder /sys/class/leds =)

    maybe a need to install samsung tools?
     
    demon10101, Jun 29, 2012
    #6
  7. dalingrin

    dalingrin Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    59
    Messages:
    515
    Likes Received:
    27
    Trophy Points:
    41
    Indeed. I didn't check to see but it could be.
     
    dalingrin, Jun 29, 2012
    #7
  8. elphias

    elphias Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    im not sure how to do this, what is the exact command to turn the keyboard lights on? im having difficulty figureing it out.
     
    elphias, Dec 3, 2012
    #8
  9. scottdeagan

    scottdeagan Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    13
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    6

    dalingrin gave the exact command (many thanks dalingrin!!). I will elaborate for the benefit of those who are not familiar how to enter this command:

    1. Click the "Dash Home".
    2. In the search bar, enter: terminal
    3. Click on the "Terminal" icon in the results to start the terminal.
    4. In terminal, enter: sudo su (and then press ENTER).
    5. In terminal, enter: echo 8 > /sys/class/leds/samsung\:\:kbd_backlight/brightness (and then press ENTER).

    I have found that this will only work if you are the root user (hence step 4), sudo'ing the command gives a "permission denied".
     
    scottdeagan, Jan 1, 2013
    #9
  10. victorix

    victorix Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    nice job! I have a Series 7 Ultra and it works in the same way but only 0-4 seems to work? Strange since the max_brightness is set to 8 :S
     
    victorix, Apr 29, 2013
    #10