torsdag 9 oktober 2014

Improvements with Linux kernel 3.17


The Linux kernel 3.17 was recently released and I decided to test it on a Z30 which happens to be on my desk.
I am currently running Fedora 21 (which is still in Alpha I think?) on this unit.
Most things work fine, except for the backlight control.
This may not be the end of the world, but it still bugs me that I can't easily change the backlight by use of the hotkeys.
In Fedora 20 with kernel 3.13 this was no big deal - adding acpi_backlight=vendor as a boot argument resolved the non-working hotkeys.

In Fedora 21 with a later kernel this was no longer solving the issue.
I tried a few other variants found around the net, but nothing made the brightness hotkeys have any effect.
Funny enough, it was still possible to control the backlight by echo'ing different values to /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness

Anyway, after testing the 3.17 I found that the brightness is yet again back in my control by use of the hotkeys without sending any special boot arguments.

As a extra bonus, the double mouse-setup (touchpad + accupoint) is also properly detected by the mouse-settings applet.

See the before vs after comparisons below.