LinuxPowerSaver

A command line screen dimmer for laptops running Linux using Gnome Shell.

Features:

• Quit on changing manually changing brightness.

• Custom power profile.

• Change backlight fade in / out speed.

• Update when charging status is changed.

Requirements:

• argparse (Python library)
• A laptop running Linux
• Gnome shell (Only tested on 3.26.2, feel free to try this out and tell me if a past version works!)

Command line parameters:

• -v, --verbose - Run the program in verbose mode. Without this, the program does not output to the shell.

• -m, --manual - Don't kill the program if the brightness is manually changed by the user.

• -f, --fade - How fast the brightness will fade in or out. Default: .25

• -t, --time - The amount of time to wait between polls to the battery (in seconds). Default: 2

• -p, --profile - The profile (settings file) used to set brightness values. File must be .json.

Usage:

• Run the program with default parameters. (Verbose off, Manual off, Fade 0.25, time 2, profile DEFAULT) python3 main.py

• Run the program with shell output. python3 main.py -v

• Kill the program if brightness is manually changed. python3 main.py -m

• Make screen brightness fade in / out faster python3 main.py -f .01

• Increase time between polls python3 main.py -t 5

• Specify a profile (settings file) to use (See Settings file structure below) python3 main.py -p ~/Documents/my_profile.json

Settings file structure:

A settings file settings.json is included with this program. The program will use this file by default if the -p or --profile arguments are not passed. To define a custom settings file it must have the following:

{
   "on_battery_brightness": {
     "low": low brightness value while not charging,
    "medium": medium brightness value while not charging,
     "high": high brightness value while not charging
  },
   
  "on_charge_brightness": {
    "low": low brightness value while charging,
    "medium": medium brightness value while charging,
    "high": high brightness value while charging
  },
  
  "levels": {
    "low": [lower range, upper range],
    "medium" :[lower range, upper range],
    "high": [lower range, upper range]
  }
}