Cant disable, control keyboard backlight on sony vaio vpcf236fm

Question

Hello i have a sony vaio vpcf236fm. I am unable to disable or control my keyboard backlight. i want to be able to disable it when im running on the battery. Please if i could get help with this id be in your debt.

Answer 1

Run this command and tell us if it turns it off:

$ sudo su -c "echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/sony-laptop/kbd_backlight"

You will have to type in your password to try it. To open up a terminal, just type Ctrl-Alt-T or open it from the Unity menu.

I'm just going to go ahead and assume this command works and show a nice little script that will automagically turn the keyboard backlight on and off when you unplug the battery. If the command doesn't work....well the script'll be here for future reference then.

Run the command gksudo gedit '/etc/pm/power.d/99_kbd_backlight'. Type in your password.

Then paste the following into the gedit window:

#!/bin/bash
export DISPLAY=:0.0
if on_ac_power; then
    echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/sony-laptop/kbd_backlight
else

    echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/sony-laptop/kbd_backlight
fi

exit 0

Then run this command:

$ sudo chmod +x /etc/pm/power.d/99_kbd_backlight

You may need to restart your computer for this to take effect. Theoretically, this should turn your keyboard backlight on and off when you plug and unplug your charger.

Edited the script from this source: http://www.techytalk.info/ubuntu-disable-enable-compiz-battery-ac-script/

EDIT: This may be a more "proper" answer: Keyboard backlighting not working on a Vaio VPCSB11FX

Answer 2

I do a different way, with this script:

#!/bin/bash
FILE="/sys/devices/platform/sony-laptop/kbd_backlight"
MODE=$1
if [ -z $MODE ]
then
    notify-send -t 8000 "No option specified, no operation done"
    exit
fi
if [ ! -w "$FILE" ]
then
    gksudo chmod a+w /sys/devices/platform/sony-laptop/kbd_backlight
fi

if [ "$MODE" = "on" ]
then
    echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/sony-laptop/kbd_backlight
    notify-send -t 8000 "Keyboard light turned on"
else
    echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/sony-laptop/kbd_backlight
    notify-send -t 8000 "Keyboard light turned off"
fi

Then i map the key with this line in my bashrc

 bind '"^[[19;5~": "/home/$(whoami)/bin/keyboard_backlight.sh off\n"'
 bind '"^[[20;5~": "/home/$(whoami)/bin/keyboard_backlight.sh on\n"'