# Asus RGB keyboard backlight



## xgupta (Sep 17, 2021)

Hi, all
Does anyone know to control RGB light on Asus Tuf 15 laptop keyboard. I tried with  acpi_asus_wmi_load="YES" but that seems it is not helping in anything. Maybe I don't know how to use them.

uname -a
FreeBSD  13.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 13.0-RELEASE #0 releng/13.0-n244733-ea31abc261f: Fri Apr  9 04:24:09 UTC 2021     root@releng1.nyi.freebsd.org:/usr/obj/usr/src/amd64.amd64/sys/GENERIC  amd64

It should use Fn+pagup & pageup for it. But currently it just blinking all the time in random colors. and it is giving a good pain to eyes...

Thanks,
SHivam


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## Geezer (Sep 18, 2021)

I doubt whether any developer of Freebsd has considered that the backlight on a keyboard is important enough to have supported.

If I was in charge, all would be different, I am all into aesthetics. I love coloured flashing lights and stuff (even though my system is devoid of lights).


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## xgupta (Sep 18, 2021)

Problem is - How can I switch it off. It is blinking all day and night. And it is a laptop so battery backup is also decreased.


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## msplsh (Sep 18, 2021)

You're supposed to twiddle with it using sysctl


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## jcamos (Oct 29, 2021)

msplsh said:


> You're supposed to twiddle with it using sysctl


Hi there. I'm trying to fix a similar thing on my Asus ZenBook UX431DA, since I'm not even able to turn on/off the backlight. Which parameter on sysctl should I look for these configs? Any thoughts?
Thanks!


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## msplsh (Oct 29, 2021)

What to look for is right there in the man page for acpi_asus_wmi(4)


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## jcamos (Oct 29, 2021)

Yes, I've seen acpi_asus_wmi(4). The problem is that it states:


> Some hotkey events, such as keyboard backlight and touchpad control, are handled inside the driver.


Which in my understanding it's not managed by sysctl(), no? Am I missing something?

For example, for being able to activate my touchpad I had to load ig4(). Maybe it's just in front of my eyes and I'm missing it completely


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## msplsh (Oct 29, 2021)

Why haven't you dumped the sysctls that are available into this text box yet?   I mean "which one do I use" is gonna be a hard question when the manpage says "depends on hardware" and few people have the devices...


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## jcamos (Oct 30, 2021)

msplsh said:


> Why haven't you dumped the sysctls that are available into this text box yet?


lol! True... which one would be useful? `sysctl dev`, `sysctl hw` or both? Also, I know there's a way to make this output shorter? Don't want to fill this thread with massive text.

Many thanks!


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## jcamos (Oct 30, 2021)

Also I have another post regarding another issue (half resolved) and this was mentioned Thread 10-hours-to-fully-charge-my-laptop-battery-asus-zenbook-ux431da.82612/#post-539297


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## msplsh (Oct 31, 2021)

The man page has a listing of one of them:  _dev.acpi___asus___wmi.0.handle___keys_.  Just list the ones that start with dev.acpi_asus.  How do you do that?  Pipe it through grep?


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## jcamos (Nov 9, 2021)

Sorry for the late reply. I was out and away from my computer.

Here is what I have:

```
# sysctl dev.acpi_asus_wmi
dev.acpi_asus_wmi.0.handle_keys: 1
dev.acpi_asus_wmi.0.%parent: acpi_wmi0
dev.acpi_asus_wmi.0.%pnpinfo:
dev.acpi_asus_wmi.0.%location:
dev.acpi_asus_wmi.0.%driver: acpi_asus_wmi
dev.acpi_asus_wmi.0.%desc: ASUS WMI device
dev.acpi_asus_wmi.%parent:
```
Not sure there's something I can do IMHO...

P.S: No need for pipe. Just `sysctl dev.acpi_asus_wmi` and it will show all child associated to it.

Cheers!


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## msplsh (Nov 9, 2021)

Yeah, not much.  Have you tried flipping handle_keys to 0 and then doing the Fn-PageDown combo?


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## jcamos (Nov 9, 2021)

msplsh said:


> Yeah, not much.  Have you tried flipping handle_keys to 0 and then doing the Fn-PageDown combo?


Yes. Works both ways... Go figure! At least for the pgup/pgdn/home/end combo works, which means only the media buttons are affected


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## astyle (Nov 9, 2021)

jcamos said:


> Yes. Works both ways... Go figure! At least for the pgup/pgdn/home/end combo works, which means only the media buttons are affected


Under UNIX/Linux, I learned to not expect the media buttons to work at all. Mapping a given key to the correct action (Volume up/down, next/previous track or file, adjust screen brightness, and the like) only seemed to be supported under very specific brands of keyboards. I'm not exactly willing to spend time or money to hunt down a compatible keyboard. I want a generic USB keyboard that I can plug in and use to type stuff in.


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