Several laptops on the market have problems with Linux for brightness controls. However, recently I found out that you can use CompizConfig settings to dim at least a particular window. Many people, however, want to dim all windows. I know Compiz can do this in the API somewhere because look what happens when you do Super + Tab in Compiz.
So this got me thinking...what I need to build is a GNOME applet in either Python, or perhaps this new Vala language, that interfaces with the Compiz API and lets me dim the entire screen.
Does anyone know where I might find some programming resources to learn how to use Compiz API in Python or Vala to dim the screen?