Auto backlight management?

[david at lang.hm]

On Thu, 24 Apr 2008, Jordan Crouse wrote:

> On 24/04/08 22:10 -0700, david at lang.hm wrote:
>> On Fri, 25 Apr 2008, Eben Eliason wrote:
>>
>>> On Thu, Apr 24, 2008 at 10:43 PM, John Watlington <wad at laptop.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  Bert misread the spec.  When the backlight is switched off, the screen
>>>>  automatically switches to B&W mode.   Why would you want to take
>>>>  that out of the control of the user ?
>>>
>>> I'm working on mockups for a "screen device" (in the Frame) which will
>>> include a brightness slider and an independent checkbox for color/b&w
>>> mode, so that these can be managed directly by the user at their
>>> discretion.  It's clear to me that it would be quite useful to have a
>>> bright backlight AND black & white mode for reading a book at night,
>>> for instance, and this isn't possible in the current UI.
>>
>> I used to think the same thing, but I learned it's not possible in the
>> current hardware.
>>
>> this is the one drawback to the fantasic screen, any light from the
>> backlight that gets through is colored by the screen. it can be made to
>> appear white by allowing all three colors through, but it's still colored.
>>
>> this means that you can't get high resolution mode with the backlight on.
>
> No part of that is true.  The behavior you describe is a myth,
> kept alive by people who misinterpet the display specification.
>
> You can turn on monochrome mode at any time. Try it yourself:
> echo "1" > /sys/devices/platform/dcon/output
>
> Boom - there you go.   Monochrome for your pleasure.

my machines are out on loan right now. is this monochrome mode the 
high-res mode, or is this still using multiple screen pixels per display 
pixel like color does? (or another way to put it, does the screen get much 
sharper when you do this?)

David Lang