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Smeterlink
Asked: 2019-08-19 11:32:43 +0800 CST

Restore screen brightness automatically at boot

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I want to run this script on ubuntu 19.04, after booting the OS to restore the previous screen brightness:

echo 50 > /sys/class/backlight/nvidia_0/brightness

How can I run this script so it takes effect at the right moment?

nvidia brightness 19.04

3 Answers

  1. In Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS I solved this problem by creating a cron job:

    sudo crontab -e

    and including this line at the end of the file:

    @reboot (sleep 2 ; echo 80 > /sys/class/backlight/nvidia_0/brightness) &

    I found that 2 seconds was enough time to override Nvidia's reset timing at boot. You can adjust the brightness level (80) to your own preference.

    PS: Just found out that an additional fix is needed: even though the code above fixes brightness at boot, it won't do it when the computer wakes up from sleep/hibernation, Nvidia resets brightness to max again. To fix this, create in addition the following script in a file in the /lib/systemd/system-sleep/ folder:

    #!/usr/bin/env bash
 action="$1"
 case $1 in
   post)
     echo 80 > /sys/class/backlight/nvidia_0/brightness
     ;;
 esac
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  2. Put it in a script eg brightness.sh. , with #!/bin/bash at the top (not sure if this is necessary) make it executable (right click, permissions, executable) , then put that in startup applications - Power Key then type startup, select Startup applications, add button, type (<> are your particular locations)

    bash "/home/<username>/<MySctipts>/brightness.sh"
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  3. Your system may be setup to automatically restore the last brightness setting already. You can however edit /etc/rc.local and insert this line before exit 0 at the bottom:

    echo 50 > /sys/class/backlight/nvidia_0/brightness

    Note you can also use cron@reboot if rc.local-service isn't setup in systemd:

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