[sillystuff]

For the brightness issue, if you are running X:

allow dimming display beyond normal max dimming:

  xrandr --output eDP --brightness 0.5

restore to normal brightness range:

  xrandr --output eDP --brightness 1

(substitute the actual output name for your display instead of eDP; run xrandr without args to list)

[inatreecrown2]

nice! didn't know about that. Thanks!

[sillystuff]

Someone was upset about it. The comment was down voted?

Try to be helpful.

[nkydr0i0]

Maybe they're upset you're not using Wayland?

Then again, every Wayland compositor family has their own tools...