How can I disable auto hue change: Redshift/Display Control? (Bionicpup64 8.0)

[vtpup]

Bionic64.....how do I disable redshift? It's persistent.

[bigpup]

In /root/startup/
There is a file redshiftgui_tray

If you right click on it and choose open as text.

This info is provided at beginning of file.

# redshiftgui_tray - Part of wrapper for RedshiftGUI (redshiftgui)
# Automatic minimized startup only if a location other than 0:0 specified.
# To prevent automatic start-up but retain a location, remove
# execute permissions for this file (chmod -x /root/Startup/redshiftgui_tray).

Removing execute permission should keep it from running.

You could also just delete it from /root/startup/

Make sure to update the save, so this change to the file is saved.

Probably will need to reboot, save, so the change is now used.

[vtpup]

Thanks bigpup. I had tried in the program itself:

1.) checking "Disable Auto Adjust" for both Color and Brightness. That didn't work, it simply maintained one color temperature and brightness without changing it for time of day. This isn't the same thing as NOT altering the color.

2.) checking in "Settings": Start Disabled. This also didn't work.

3.) manually moving ~/Startup/redshiftgui_tray to ~/Startup/disabled/ . This also didn't work.

For all of the above, the program alters colors on startup, but does not track color over time. In my case it always added a heavy blue cast.

I could fix that by going to Setup/Screen/GraphicsWizard/Monitor Gamma Calibration, and saving a less blue preference. but redshift would always negate that on the next boot up. In other words redshift took precedence on color compensation.

I will now try removing execute permissions to see if that finally kills it.

[vtpup]

Nope. Still getting a heavy blue cast on start up, despite saved corrections in Monitor Gamma Calibration.

Something is killing those saved settings.

Question, what is ~/Startup/display-LVDS-1 ?

[vtpup]

In answer to my own question here, I moved ~/Startup/display-LVDS-1 to ~/Startup/disabled, and now my gamma corrections are sticky.

Good.

Question, then, just to solve the overall mystery, who or what creates that file? It defeats Monitor Gamma Calibration.

[bigpup]

will you open as text the display-LVDS-1 file and post what is in it?

[mikewalsh]

@vtpup :-

Mm. Are you wanting better, manual control of the blue<>red spectrum.....or are you wanting to just have a bog-standard display as provided by the monitor, with you making adjustments via the monitor's controls.....and Puppy not intervening in any way?

I can point you to some "home-grown" Puppy solutions, but it will help to know what exactly it is you're wanting to be able to do. Not all of the "home-grown" ones work the same, and some are more suited for certain adjustments than others, y'see.

If redshift is on the system, it does have a tendency to "take control" of all display adjustments....

Mike.

[vtpup]

@Bigpup, here it is:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
	LC_NUMERIC=C xrandr --output LVDS-1 --gamma 1.00000000:1.00000000:1.00000000 --brightness .99

@Mike, hi! Thanks, yup, I need stable color rendition that is adjustable to a personally determined color correction for photo and video work. But also, I don't like unnecessary programs running in the background trying to change that, and especially programs that I can't seem to turn off.

Not sure that Redshift actually caused the last problem at this point, unless it is responsible for placing the display-LVDS-1 script in the Startup folder. If it does, that's not a great methodology. Or, it should be able to remove it, (and itself) from Startup, rather than just editing values in the display-LVDS-1 script (if it does).

[mikewalsh]

@vtpup :-

Fair enough. I'm just wondering if one of the later re-builds from this thread:-

http://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=114277

.....over at the Murga Forum would do what you want. The one I'll recommend isn't listed in the first post; it's a slightly later re-build after the old Forum went down at JM's demise.

It's built around a tiny tint adjustment binary called "sct", and has a brightness control slider - inspired by johnywhy's "Simple brightness Slider" - plus a colour temperature slider. Needs a fairly up-to-date YAD; the ideas & GUIs were mine, but Fred helped with much of the coding to actually make the sliders do what they were supposed to do. I won't take credit for that part.

There IS a Menu entry, under Menu->Desktop, but essentially it runs from an auto-started tray icon. The Menu entry is just there to re-start the tray icon if you close it from the right-click Menu.

Click on the tray icon, and the brightness slider comes up, bottom right-hand corner. If you want to adjust the colour temperature, hit the button for that on the brightness slider, and a second slider pops-up. OR, you can access them individually, again from the right-click Menu.

--------------------------------------------

If you fancy trying it out, you can find the most up-to-date version of it here:-

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Just make sure to remove Redshift completely first, then perform a re-boot BEFORE installing ScreenControl. If the Redshift binary is still "on the system", it'll continue to "fight" any other attempts to adjust stuff, and ScreenControl will not behave itself! (It'll still be in RAM, even after removal.....hence the need to re-boot before installing ScreenControl).

Entirely up to you, of course.

Mike.

[vtpup]

No problem Mike, if the info is useful to future screen control developers add as much info here as you like.

For me...I won't use it....I just use my laptop's keyboard keys for quick brightness control adjustments. For color have always done the Monitor Gamma Calibration in Menu/Setup/ScreenGraphics Wizard when setting any new Puppy up. I don't want it to change after that. It's of course 3-component color adjustment, which I need.

I should also add here that Redshift has other problems on my system as well as unwanted persistence. One of them was in the GUI suddenly becoming infinitely wide after clicking diasble color, and moving the slider a few times in the GUI settings. The window extends way past the right screen border. See attachment of screenshot.

[vtpup]

I've discovered the cause of the seeming persistence of the blue tinted screen. First traced to the file in ~/Startup/ that I mentioned, above to BigPup.

Well that file was generated by a new program called "Display Control" authored shortly ago by radky, and located in Menu/Desktop/Display Control. NOT by Redshift.

I don't recall adding this program, and it wasn't present in my older copies of BionicPup. Was this added in a Bionic update?

[radky]

vtpup wrote:

Question, what is ~/Startup/display-LVDS-1

#!/bin/sh
LC_NUMERIC=C xrandr --output LVDS-1 --gamma 1.00000000:1.00000000:1.00000000 --brightness .99

@vtpup,

On your system, depending on selected options, the Display Control module of JWMdesk may create the following configuration files to provide persistence of screen tint and brightness (i.e., the Display Control settings will survive rebooting).

1 - /root/Startup/display-LVDS-1
2 - /root/Startup/display-sct
3 - /root/Startup/brightness-set

I'll prepare an update for JWMdesk which provides an option to disable JWMdesk modulation of screen tint and brightness (and simultaneously remove the above configuration files). In this scenario, JWMdesk will still provide access to the legacy screensaver module and you can use your preferred application for modulating screen luminence (such as the built-in 'Gamma Calibration' application of Puppy Linux).

Thanks for your report.

PupMates
https://www.smokey01.com/radky/PupMates.html

[vtpup]

No problem radky, glad to figure it out in the end.

[williwaw]

in a terminal
# sct 4500 (or whatever temp you desire)

might easily allow you to set the color temp for a single session
I think the global persistent temp can be set in redshift.conf
pfind locates this config in ~/.config in my flavor which may not be the same place for yours

[vtpup]

I'm guessing "color temp" here is a catch phrase for fixed settings for adjustments to red and blue, like RedShift performs automatically. This has no real relationship to specific monitor characteristics that need compensation.

These canned functions are actually counterproductive for monitor correction. If you read the thread you will see that I normally adjusted red, blue, and green to correct a monitor's specific characteristics for use in video and photography work, and that adjustment needs to stay put. I've done that simply in Tahr for years. It became a problem in Bionic when I couldn't turn off auto adjustments once started. "Color temperature" would not have helped. Just the opposite, I needed to get away from canned settings.

Anyway, the cause of the problems were established in this thread, and auto and fixed hue changes were disabled through deletions in ~/Startup/, and by removing Redshift's execute permissions, all documented above. Now Monitor Gamma Calibration works as it has in the past.

[mouldy]

I never particularly saw point of redshift or why it was standard active install. Shouldnt it be an optional add-on for those that want it, or is it just me and its somehow wildly popular? To me it seemed an annoying fad with all linux distributions for some reason. First time it turned my screen red, thought my monitor was on way out and found it painful to look at. I dont know, did windows start something similar??? And just matter of keeping up with the Gates? My way dealing with it "rm /usr/bin/redshift". But if anybody finds some use to it, then they will have to figure a part way solution. If you just want to disable it but leave it, then rename it.

[mikewalsh]

@mouldy :-

Believe me, Redshift & related utilities have a very important use for many people.....including myself.

I spent many years when I was younger working for the family firm, processing waste 'fly-ash' from coal-fired power stations. The coal favoured for this task was one that left a gritty ash behind, like coarse grey sand, and used to get flushed-out to large 'settlement ponds' behind the power stations, to allow larger bits to settle out before scooping the lighter stuff off the top, and sending it off to various intermediate 'processors', like ourselves, that then supplied companies that had found uses for it.

We basically dried it again, sieved all the crap out of it down to 2 specific micron grades, then supplied 3 different companies further up in the North of England, as well as 2 firms in Japan. It was dreadful stuff to work with; even air-flow helmets equipped with the most restrictive filters wouldn't keep the finer particles out, and after a time you ended up with permanently sensitive eye-sight, due to abrasive particles getting between the eyeball and the socket. Constant scratching left a network of hair-like scars on the eyeball & socket, and it was these that caused the irritation as your eyes moved back & forth.

Consequently, I now - in later life - cannot bear bright light, and the blue-tinted light produced by computer monitors gives my eyes hell after any length of time. Thus, utilities like Redshift, the Windows-only 'f.Lux' and 'sct' allow me to adjust way down into the red end of the spectrum.....which makes everything far more comfortable.

It's also been discovered through years of research that this blue-tinted light plays havoc with your natural sleep-cycle if you use a computer for hours late at night. It seems that blue-tinted light stimulates certain parts of the brain normally responsible for letting you 'wind-down' before sleep. Red-tinted light, on the other hand, assists this part of the brain, and lets it do what it evolved to do.....

Mike.

[williams2]

What's the best colour lighting for sleep?
The idea artificial light from screens is keeping people awake at night is flawed, say scientists who have been studying the best type of lighting to nod off to.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-50807011

For me, I don't notice any difference. Of course, everyone is different.

[mikewalsh]

@vtpup :-

Yeah, I had that same issue with the RedShift GUI 'stretching' in several Pups. Only by 'grabbing' the window with the Alt button, then moving sideways with the cursor (gives you that 4-way 'arrow') - for at least 5-6 full screen-widths - did I eventually find the far side of the GUI!

Never did track down what caused it. Around that time, Fred & I started developing the home-grown ScreenControl utility between us, and it eventually led to Fred's RShift-portable, based around a CLI-only version of RedShift, plus his own YAD-based GUI and geo-location built-in.....the whole being packed as a 'self-extracting' script, which was another concept he'd started experimenting with. Several of my Pups use this, but I prefer ScreenControl in certain Puppies due to the way their graphics drivers interact with this 'tinting' stuff..

Mike.

[mouldy]

@mouldy :-

Believe me, Redshift & related utilities have a very important use for many people.....including myself.

I spent many years when I was younger working for the family firm, processing waste 'fly-ash' from coal-fired power stations. The coal favoured for this task was one that left a gritty ash behind, like coarse grey sand, and used to get flushed-out to large 'settlement ponds' behind the power stations, to allow larger bits to settle out before scooping the lighter stuff off the top, and sending it off to various intermediate 'processors', like ourselves, that then supplied companies that had found uses for it.

We basically dried it again, sieved all the crap out of it down to 2 specific micron grades, then supplied 3 different companies further up in the North of England, as well as 2 firms in Japan. It was dreadful stuff to work with; even air-flow helmets equipped with the most restrictive filters wouldn't keep the finer particles out, and after a time you ended up with permanently sensitive eye-sight, due to abrasive particles getting between the eyeball and the socket. Constant scratching left a network of hair-like scars on the eyeball & socket, and it was these that caused the irritation as your eyes moved back & forth.

Consequently, I now - in later life - cannot bear bright light, and the blue-tinted light produced by computer monitors gives my eyes hell after any length of time. Thus, utilities like Redshift, the Windows-only 'f.Lux' and 'sct' allow me to adjust way down into the red end of the spectrum.....which makes everything far more comfortable.

It's also been discovered through years of research that this blue-tinted light plays havoc with your natural sleep-cycle if you use a computer for hours late at night. It seems that blue-tinted light stimulates certain parts of the brain normally responsible for letting you 'wind-down' before sleep. Red-tinted light, on the other hand, assists this part of the brain, and lets it do what it evolved to do.....

Mike.

I am just opposite I guess, I need a bright screen to see detail, and red tint is painful.

I also find the dark themes annoying and having to go and try to reset them only to be offered mostly dark themes and darn few light ones. Now for long duration terminal type situations like ebook reader then I like black text on light aqua green or grey background, black text on bright white can be unpleasant after long periods, but the popular white text on black background is just a nogo from getgo.

[Keef]

There is not really a concensus on the effects of blue light - no conclusive evidence it is harmful, or that it keeps people awake. It is more likely the stimulation of what people are doing/reading on their devices that keeps them awake. I tend to keep screens fairly dim anyway - red tints just make the colours look muddy.

@mikewalsh - sounds like you are lucky you didn't get your corneas sandpapered off.

[williwaw]

color shift useful for many living at high latitudes who find blue light disconcerting to sleep rhythms during the dark part of the year. For those that suffer from SAD, seasonal affective disorder, the common treatment is to manipulate your artificial light exposure to mimic patterns found at lower latitudes.

the app is useful in computers viewed at night in environments where red light is preferred to help retain night vision, ie ship navigation and watch keeping for one.

[vtpup]

Wow lots of commentary, I hadn't expected -- I thought this was over with a couple days ago.....

My only beef with Redshift and display control is how they are implemented, not that the exist in Puppy! Mike, you need it fine, others appreciate it fine again, of course keep it in Puppy. BUT:

1.) You should always be able to disable optional display altering programs like Redshift, or Display Control easily and directly in the their interfaces. They should then stop interfering with the display, or altering native puppy display settings, and they should stop using computer resources.

2.) They don't. Apparently, the thought was that leaving static remnants in ~/Startup was adequate. It isn't. On every startup these remnants negate the basic Puppy user monitor adjustment settings. They are not truly disabled, they are just maintaining a static setting in opposition to user system gamma settings.

We have controls fighting controls and the action is inconsistent. Hard to troubleshoot and the original reason for this thread. You set monitor gamma and something else next startup blocks it. Why? Re-set gamma again, it actually hasn't changed, screen looks good, but then next start-up, screen is blue again. What's going on? The redshift or screen control function is supposedly turned off. Well no they're not. Screen control is now pegged to startup and has taken over the user's preferences.

Look if you want a static color change, just change your monitor gamma setting -- it's easy and graphic, and logical, and also numeric. Just dial in what you want. A couple of keystrokes off the main Menu gets you there

And if you want dynamic time of day location aware red and blue shift fine. But make a program that doesn't interfere with others who don't want it, and make sure it bows out gracefully leaving nothing behind to trip up the person who just said "no thanks" politely to it.

[mikewalsh]

@vtpup :-

Mm. Yah, I take your point about being able to enable/disable ScreenControl "on-the-fly", as it were.

That should be simple enough to do. I've been refining several of my personal, 'custom' utilities with stuff like this in recent months. Easy enough to add a few "chmod + x/- x" changers, and add the ability to disable/re-enable the utility from its tray-icon's right-click menu.

('Sokay. Stuff like this doesn't always occur to every developer right from the off; certainly, with me, I'm often initially more keen just to get something working, than I am with concerning myself over every last, tiny little detail. This is where community feedback is appreciated, and it fits with what is clearly stated on the Puppy Linux home page.....about if you simply run Puppy Linux, without doing anything else at all, then you ARE a part of 'the team'!)

https://puppylinux-woof-ce.github.io/team.html

I don't need Fred's help with this bit; this is just simple YAD GUI stuff, and adding basic commands into the mix. I'll have a think about it, and figure out the easiest way to implement it.

Thanks for the feedback. It's appreciated..!

Mike.

[vtpup]

"Easy enough to add a few "chmod + x/- x" changers, and add the ability to disable/re-enable the utility from its tray-icon's right-click menu."

Yes, but I don't want it in my tray. I don't want it at all. It isn't necessary -- it just duplicates already present Puppy functionality and uses resources.

Look if I want a redder screen, I go to the Puppy menu, I click on "Screen/Graphics Wizard", choose Monitor Gamma Calibration, and increase the red value or decrease the blue value, or both whatever you want. I see a color swatch panel that shows me exactly what I'm getting.

What is the problem?

[mikewalsh]

@vtpup :-

No, there's no problem at all. If you don't want it, don't install it.

Why get snotty about somebody offering a suggestion? I don't see anybody forcing it on you...

My last post merely indicated that your thread had made me think about useful improvements to it, which others might find useful. That's all it was; me "thinking out loud".....and some of your points were relevant, as it turned out, so thank you for those.

Mike.

[vtpup]

I meant very literally what is the problem with doing it that way?

[vtpup]

Perhaps I have misunderstood what you mean Mike about enabling and disabling it "in the tray". I assume
"enabling it" in the tray from a dropdown means it is resident in the tray, yes?

[mikewalsh]

@vtpup :-

I meant very literally what is the problem with doing it that way?

Um; quite possibly because it's never made any visible difference to me. The fact that I'm partly colour-blind on the blue-green side of the spectrum probably doesn't help. If it works for others, great. It just doesn't do anything for ME.

Combine that with extreme eye-sensitivity due to my work all those years ago, well..... Go figure.

-----------------------------------

As for ScreenControl, it doesn't have to live in the tray if not wanted; just right-click and 'Quit' when finished with it. Menu->Desktop->ScreenControl will place it back in the tray if & when it's wanted again.

Hm. I need to add tray auto-start disabling, too; I'm doing all this exact same stuff with about 4 different projects ATM, an' I'm getting confused as to exactly which ones I've done things to and which I haven't!

Mike.

[vtpup]

But Mike, that doesn't make sense, even if color blind -- you can still turn down the blue and turn up the red, and that has the same effect on the monitor's pixels as the other methods.