Apple Studio Display Linux Driver Published To Control The Backlight

An independent developer has posted an open-source Linux driver for review in order to handle the Apple Studio Display backlight control under Linux. The Apple Studio Display uses a Thunderbolt (DP) interface for display but lacks any hardware controls. Thus a USB interface is used by the monitor for controlling attributes like the display backlight brightness.

Julius Zint posted the "apple_bl_usb" driver for review for this Apple USB backlight driver that initially supports the Apple Studio Display. This driver isn't needed for basic functionality of the display itself but if wanting to manage the backlight brightness given the lack of physical button controls.

This simple driver to control the Apple Studio Display brightness is just under 300 lines of new code. The driver is out for review on the kernel mailing list and could be mainlined soon if no issues are raised.

The Apple Studio Display itself is impressive for a 5K resolution for the 27-inch display, 600 night brightness, 12MP ultra-wide web camera, and built-in six-speaker system but the cost of the base model is $1,599 USD.