Debian squeeze on Samsung N220: almost working very well but no control of brightness

[Eric S Fraga <ucecesf@ucl.ac.uk>]

Hello,

I recently acquired a Samsung N220 laptop (Intel Atom N450 chip, 10"
screen, etc).  After some playing around, yesterday I was able to
install Debian squeeze on this system and managed to get even wireless
working (once I tracked down the firmware required).  Sounds works as well.

Unfortunately, none of the "Function" keys work.  I don't particularly
care about most of them as I can adjust or control things from the
shell for most functions that I require.  However, there is one thing
which I cannot seem to control in any way: I cannot adjust the
brightness of the display.  The display is stuck at a fairly low level
of brightness, suitable only for use in a dark room.

Can anybody please suggest what I might be able to try to control the
brightness levels?  At best, it would be to gain control via the blue
function keys but direct commands are fine as well.

I can send all appropriate HAL/USB/PCI info but I don't think any of
it is relevant.  The display controller, just in case, is an Intel
Pineview IGC.

In case this data point matters, ubuntu's latest version did work in
this regard but I cannot determine what was different about that
installation.  (I prefer Debian to ubuntu for a number of reasons)

Thanks,
eric