Controlling screen brightness in Linux via software

Linux alternative to Monitorian: “ddcutil” and “ddcui”.

Under Windows, I like to control the screen brightness with the software “Monitorian“. The software allows me to control the brightness directly via software without having to navigate through the monitor’s menu.

There is also an alternative for Linux. Let’s get started. The DDC protocol must be activated for this to work. There can also be problems if the computer is connected using an adapter or docking station. That right up front.

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ddcutil on the command line

If you want to be active on the command line, you can install “ddcutil“.

sudo apt install ddcutil

The current brightness can be read out with the following command

ddcutil getvcp 10

The following command sets the brightness, in this example to 60 %:

ddcutil setvcp 10 60

With user interface: ddcui

Command line is fancy and always makes an impression on outsiders, but I can’t remember any commands. No problem, there is also a graphical user interface for Linux called “ddcui”

sudo apt install ddcui

To start we execute the following command.

ddcui

The application interface is somewhat more extensive. Here we can select the display. We activate the configuration under View. The software recognizes what can be controlled. In addition to the brightness, we can also make other settings, e.g. contrast and color temperature on my monitor.

The standard things worked without any problems. Other things generated errors, e.g. a reset to factory settings.

Conclusion

Even for Linux, the screen can be quickly controlled via software without having to go through the monitor’s on-screen menu.