invert display colors b->w, w->b

[toby909]

just a thought that just crossed my mind. is there an option in any of the nvidia drivers, generally, and specifically in my linux, to invert, at the driver/graphic card level, all colors displayed? white becomes black, black becomes white? like I can adjust other things in the nvidia driver like gamma. like if one mainly works with pdfs, and word but also would want to safe power or any other crazy reason that some may subjectively think it ergonomic under certain circumstances

[Thunderbird]

Such functionality belongs in a composition manager like compiz or kde4's kwm. At least kde4 supports it and I guess compiz too.

Note that depending on your type of display this won't save you any power. E.g. in case of an LCD screen the backlight is always on and the 'crystals' just make sure not all light passes through the screen. In case of a CRT monitor it would save a little as black means that the tube is off.

Personally I would find a different way to save power e.g. running the cpu and gpu at lower clocks.

[AaronP]

You should be able to do this with the VidMode extension's XF86VidModeSetGammaRamp function. I hacked together a quick test program to show that it's possible.

NOTE: Test program doesn't do any error checking. Use at your own risk.

[hvengel]

In fact all you need to do is flip the gamma ramp so that it slops the opposite direction. A non-programmer solution would be to use ArgyllCMS. You could create a calibration file with inverted gamma tables and use dispwin (the ArgyllCMS gamma loader) to load this calibration file. The calibration files are fairly simple CGATS files that can be created/modified in a text editor.

Here is a normal ArgyllCMS calibration file:

CAL

DESCRIPTOR "Argyll Device Calibration State"
ORIGINATOR "Argyll dispcal"
CREATED "Wed Apr 2 12:21:15 2008"
KEYWORD "DEVICE_CLASS"
DEVICE_CLASS "DISPLAY"
KEYWORD "DEVICE_TYPE"
DEVICE_TYPE "CRT"
KEYWORD "TARGET_WHITE_XYZ"
TARGET_WHITE_XYZ "108.740920 114.406522 124.519126"
KEYWORD "TARGET_GAMMA"
TARGET_GAMMA "2.200000"
KEYWORD "BLACK_POINT_CORRECTION"
BLACK_POINT_CORRECTION "1.000000"
KEYWORD "QUALITY"
QUALITY "high"

KEYWORD "RGB_I"
NUMBER_OF_FIELDS 4
BEGIN_DATA_FORMAT
RGB_I RGB_R RGB_G RGB_B
END_DATA_FORMAT

NUMBER_OF_SETS 256
BEGIN_DATA
0.0000 6.2689e-03 0.0000 0.0000
3.9216e-03 0.010526 1.6697e-03 5.9033e-04
7.8431e-03 0.014855 5.7590e-03 5.2893e-03
0.011765 0.019256 9.9318e-03 0.010105
0.015686 0.023732 0.014191 0.015043
0.019608 0.028285 0.018538 0.020107
0.023529 0.032917 0.022977 0.025302
0.027451 0.037629 0.027511 0.030633
0.031373 0.042430 0.032143 0.036120
0.035294 0.047345 0.036892 0.041828
0.039216 0.052400 0.041781 0.047810
0.043137 0.057614 0.046821 0.054108
0.047059 0.062992 0.052016 0.060735
0.050980 0.068534 0.057358 0.067677
0.054902 0.074214 0.062827 0.074835
0.058824 0.079982 0.068386 0.082083
0.062745 0.085783 0.073974 0.089289
0.066667 0.091563 0.079558 0.096371
0.070588 0.097287 0.085103 0.10324
0.074510 0.10292 0.090579 0.10989
0.078431 0.10845 0.095972 0.11630
0.082353 0.11388 0.10128 0.12249
0.086275 0.11922 0.10649 0.12848
0.090196 0.12445 0.11163 0.13428
0.094118 0.12959 0.11667 0.13991
0.098039 0.13464 0.12164 0.14537
0.10196 0.13959 0.12653 0.15066
0.10588 0.14446 0.13136 0.15580
0.10980 0.14925 0.13611 0.16080
0.11373 0.15398 0.14080 0.16568
0.11765 0.15865 0.14544 0.17041
0.12157 0.16326 0.15002 0.17500
0.12549 0.16779 0.15455 0.17949
0.12941 0.17229 0.15902 0.18388
0.13333 0.17675 0.16345 0.18820
0.13725 0.18117 0.16783 0.19244
0.14118 0.18556 0.17215 0.19663
0.14510 0.18991 0.17643 0.20078
0.14902 0.19422 0.18067 0.20489
0.15294 0.19850 0.18487 0.20896
0.15686 0.20274 0.18904 0.21298
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0.16471 0.21115 0.19730 0.22093
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0.17647 0.22355 0.20949 0.23259
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0.18824 0.23572 0.22144 0.24388
0.19216 0.23974 0.22539 0.24762
0.19608 0.24373 0.22933 0.25136
0.20000 0.24771 0.23325 0.25510
0.20392 0.25169 0.23716 0.25884
0.20784 0.25567 0.24107 0.26259
0.21176 0.25965 0.24499 0.26635
0.21569 0.26364 0.24892 0.27010
0.21961 0.26763 0.25285 0.27386
0.22353 0.27162 0.25679 0.27763
0.22745 0.27561 0.26075 0.28142
0.23137 0.27960 0.26471 0.28525
0.23529 0.28358 0.26869 0.28909
0.23922 0.28757 0.27266 0.29295
0.24314 0.29158 0.27663 0.29679
0.24706 0.29558 0.28061 0.30063
0.25098 0.29959 0.28460 0.30446
0.25490 0.30359 0.28862 0.30829
0.25882 0.30759 0.29265 0.31211
0.26275 0.31158 0.29667 0.31593
0.26667 0.31558 0.30068 0.31976
0.27059 0.31957 0.30470 0.32362
0.27451 0.32358 0.30871 0.32750
0.27843 0.32760 0.31272 0.33138
0.28235 0.33163 0.31673 0.33526
0.28627 0.33566 0.32075 0.33915
0.29020 0.33969 0.32478 0.34304
0.29412 0.34370 0.32880 0.34694
0.29804 0.34772 0.33280 0.35083
0.30196 0.35176 0.33680 0.35472
0.30588 0.35580 0.34078 0.35861
0.30980 0.35985 0.34476 0.36250
0.31373 0.36390 0.34873 0.36641
0.31765 0.36796 0.35268 0.37030
0.32157 0.37202 0.35662 0.37416
0.32549 0.37609 0.36056 0.37799
0.32941 0.38014 0.36450 0.38178
0.33333 0.38415 0.36843 0.38554
0.33725 0.38814 0.37235 0.38929
0.34118 0.39209 0.37627 0.39305
0.34510 0.39602 0.38016 0.39682
0.34902 0.39993 0.38404 0.40062
0.35294 0.40383 0.38791 0.40442
0.35686 0.40771 0.39179 0.40822
0.36078 0.41157 0.39568 0.41200
0.36471 0.41539 0.39957 0.41576
0.36863 0.41918 0.40345 0.41951
0.37255 0.42296 0.40730 0.42322
0.37647 0.42673 0.41112 0.42690
0.38039 0.43049 0.41491 0.43054
0.38431 0.43425 0.41867 0.43416
0.38824 0.43801 0.42242 0.43777
0.39216 0.44179 0.42615 0.44137
0.39608 0.44558 0.42986 0.44495
0.40000 0.44938 0.43356 0.44851
0.40392 0.45316 0.43727 0.45207
0.40784 0.45694 0.44099 0.45562
0.41176 0.46072 0.44472 0.45917
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0.43137 0.47927 0.46344 0.47702
0.43529 0.48290 0.46719 0.48063
0.43922 0.48649 0.47094 0.48427
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0.44706 0.49362 0.47842 0.49162
0.45098 0.49720 0.48216 0.49528
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0.45882 0.50440 0.48962 0.50259
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0.46667 0.51165 0.49702 0.50985
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0.48627 0.53018 0.51529 0.52765
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0.49804 0.54150 0.52614 0.53821
0.50196 0.54529 0.52975 0.54175
0.50588 0.54906 0.53337 0.54528
0.50980 0.55280 0.53701 0.54879
0.51373 0.55650 0.54065 0.55229
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0.54510 0.58525 0.56960 0.58036
0.54902 0.58874 0.57320 0.58385
0.55294 0.59223 0.57680 0.58735
0.55686 0.59570 0.58039 0.59086
0.56078 0.59917 0.58397 0.59438
0.56471 0.60264 0.58755 0.59792
0.56863 0.60612 0.59113 0.60147
0.57255 0.60960 0.59471 0.60505
0.57647 0.61309 0.59830 0.60865
0.58039 0.61658 0.60188 0.61226
0.58431 0.62007 0.60547 0.61588
0.58824 0.62357 0.60905 0.61951
0.59216 0.62707 0.61261 0.62312
0.59608 0.63054 0.61618 0.62671
0.60000 0.63399 0.61974 0.63026
0.60392 0.63741 0.62328 0.63376
0.60784 0.64079 0.62681 0.63721
0.61176 0.64414 0.63029 0.64063
0.61569 0.64747 0.63373 0.64403
0.61961 0.65077 0.63714 0.64739
0.62353 0.65407 0.64051 0.65074
0.62745 0.65737 0.64385 0.65411
0.63137 0.66069 0.64717 0.65750
0.63529 0.66401 0.65049 0.66091
0.63922 0.66735 0.65383 0.66435
0.64314 0.67071 0.65719 0.66782
0.64706 0.67408 0.66057 0.67133
0.65098 0.67746 0.66398 0.67487
0.65490 0.68082 0.66741 0.67842
0.65882 0.68417 0.67085 0.68197
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0.67843 0.70079 0.68800 0.69940
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0.69020 0.71075 0.69824 0.70959
0.69412 0.71408 0.70166 0.71295
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0.73333 0.74794 0.73655 0.74634
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0.78824 0.79681 0.78744 0.79460
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0.79608 0.80371 0.79465 0.80149
0.80000 0.80714 0.79825 0.80492
0.80392 0.81056 0.80184 0.80836
0.80784 0.81398 0.80543 0.81180
0.81176 0.81739 0.80902 0.81526
0.81569 0.82082 0.81260 0.81871
0.81961 0.82426 0.81618 0.82217
0.82353 0.82770 0.81976 0.82563
0.82745 0.83114 0.82333 0.82908
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0.93333 0.92049 0.91728 0.92056
0.93725 0.92357 0.92049 0.92378
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0.98431 0.96019 0.95791 0.96175
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0.99216 0.96636 0.96407 0.96801
0.99608 0.96946 0.96714 0.97114
1.0000 0.97256 0.97020 0.97427
END_DATA
CAL

DESCRIPTOR "Argyll Calibration options and model"
ORIGINATOR "Argyll dispcal"
CREATED "Wed Apr 2 12:21:15 200"

KEYWORD "R_P"
KEYWORD "G_P"
KEYWORD "B_P"
NUMBER_OF_FIELDS 3
BEGIN_DATA_FORMAT
R_P G_P B_P
END_DATA_FORMAT

NUMBER_OF_SETS 32
BEGIN_DATA
-7.6661e-03 -4.9153e-03 -6.1456e-03
0.98885 0.97071 0.97554
1.5778 1.2555 1.2955
0.69798 0.52687 0.34902
-0.16868 -0.026868 0.040280
-0.045635 -3.3102e-03 0.017699
-0.10268 -0.048480 -0.014462
-6.1461e-03 -0.016010 -0.026446
2.4623e-03 -9.9541e-05 -0.029374
2.3285e-03 0.011579 -0.030087
1.7436e-03 8.0452e-03 -1.4527e-03
2.5675e-03 7.9518e-03 1.9710e-03
2.0578e-03 -1.9563e-04 0.031032
3.1644e-03 0.010096 -0.024696
2.0591e-03 5.0226e-03 -2.9887e-03
2.3052e-03 3.8371e-03 -0.020554
3.4342e-04 3.4767e-03 -7.3632e-03
1.2627e-03 4.2211e-03 8.7017e-03
1.8207e-04 1.7218e-03 -2.3999e-03
4.0563e-04 1.7172e-03 -0.012229
2.4755e-04 2.5442e-03 -1.1952e-03
7.5621e-04 2.9672e-03 4.4744e-03
1.1818e-03 2.9348e-03 0.011005
-5.2698e-05 2.4154e-03 -6.8652e-03
4.5301e-04 2.3888e-03 -3.7802e-04
3.6158e-04 2.4563e-03 -4.7821e-03
1.5127e-04 1.8909e-03 0.013096
1.1603e-03 1.4910e-03 -0.016382
2.7544e-04 2.9078e-03 0.015912
-4.3855e-04 1.5436e-03 -2.8792e-03
3.0037e-04 1.6765e-03 1.2499e-03
-7.0150e-03 -2.1889e-03 -0.026169
END_DATA