jcs.org
lightweight X11 utility to dim the screen and/or keyboard backlight when idle
1XDIMMER(1) - General Commands Manual
2
3# NAME
4
5**xdimmer** - dim the screen and/or the keyboard backlight when idle or when ambient
6light changes
7
8# SYNOPSIS
9
10**xdimmer**
11\[**-a**]
12\[**-b** *brighten steps*]
13\[**-d**]
14\[**-k**]
15\[**-n**]
16\[**-p** *percent*]
17\[**-s** *dim steps*]
18\[**-t** *timeout*]
19
20# DESCRIPTION
21
22**xdimmer**
23waits
24*timeout*
25number of seconds and if no keyboard or mouse input is detected, the screen
26backlight is dimmed to
27*percent*
28in
29*dim steps*
30steps, unless the
31*-n*
32option was specified.
33Once keyboard or mouse input is detected, the screen backlight is restored
34to its previous brightness value in
35*brighten steps*
36steps.
37
38On OpenBSD, if the
39*-k*
40option is used, the keyboard backlight is also dimmed to zero and restored
41upon movement via the
42wscons(4)
43interface.
44
45Also on OpenBSD, if the
46*-a*
47option is used and an ambient light sensor device is located via
48sysctl(8),
49screen backlight (and keyboard backlight if
50*-k*
51is used) is dimmed or brightened based on lux readings.
52
53# OPTIONS
54
55**-a**
56
57> Change backlights according to ambient light sensor lux readings.
58> Currently only supported on OpenBSD.
59
60**-b** *steps*
61
62> Number of steps to take while restoring backlight.
63> The default is
64> `5`
65> steps.
66
67**-d**
68
69> Print debugging messages to stdout.
70
71**-k**
72
73> Affect the keyboard backlight as well as the screen backlight.
74> Currently only supported on OpenBSD.
75
76**-n**
77
78> Do not adjust the screen backlight when idle.
79
80**-p** *percent*
81
82> Absolute brightness value to which the backlight is dimmed.
83> The default is
84> `10`
85> percent.
86
87**-s** *steps*
88
89> Number of steps to take while decrementing backlight.
90> The default is
91> `20`
92> steps.
93
94**-t** *timeout*
95
96> Number of seconds to wait without receiving input before dimming.
97> The default is
98> `120`
99> seconds.
100
101# SIGNALS
102
103`SIGINT`
104
105> **xdimmer**
106> will exit, attempting to brighten the screen and/or keyboard before
107> exiting if they are currently in a dimmed state.
108
109`SIGUSR1`
110
111> **xdimmer**
112> will immediately dim the screen and/or keyboard (depending on
113> *-k*
114> and
115> *-n*
116> options).
117
118`SIGUSR2`
119
120> **xdimmer**
121> will immediately brighten the screen and/or keyboard if they are
122> in a dimmed state.
123
124# AUTHORS
125
126**xdimmer**
127was written by
128joshua stein <[jcs@jcs.org](mailto:jcs@jcs.org)>.
129
130OpenBSD 6.6 - August 27, 2019