no backlight controls with nvidia driver on MacbookPro5,5

[wvengen]

With the open source nouveau driver, the backlight control in /sys/class/backlight/apple_backlight works. When using the nvidia-313 driver (313.30-0ubuntu1), it still exists but doesn't work anymore. I found no other way to control the brightness setting.

[wvengen (wvengen)]

Found https://github.com/guillaumezin/nvidiabl which works (version 0.81). Mactel PPA's module (version 0.17.3) doesn't work: I get a compilation error on linux 3.8.0-19-lowlatency.

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

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[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Wolf Rogner (war-rsb)]

Happens on the Macbook Pros with retina display as well.

[Wolf Rogner (war-rsb)]

Correction:
Happens on the Macbook Pro ret 15". The 13" model has an Intel graphics chip where backlight control works fine.

[Hohle Frucht (hohle-frucht88)]

Hi All
The solution from wvengen does work perfectly for me. I also have a macbook pro 5.5 and at the moment I'm running Ubuntu 13.10. My Nvidia Driver at the time of typing is 304 but I will try 319 soon.
Just install git via: "sudo apt-get install git" if no already done.
Next step is clone the mentioned repo. So type:

git clone https://github.com/guillaumezin/nvidiabl.git

Next step is to install the latest package in the install/deb folder. First enter the install/deb folder via

cd nvidiabl/install/deb

next is to actually install the driver via

sudo dpkg -i nvidiabl-dkms_0.85_all.deb

if a newer version (higher number thant 0.85) is available install this one instead.
After installation has completed one needs to restart and backlight control does work again :)

Credits go to guillaumezin and wvengen for coding and pointing me to the solution. I'm very greatfull for your work and pointing me to the solution after Hours of research.