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["Peter S." <stoto@xxxxxxxxx>]

I found a solution:

I made a script, with that i can control the brightness:

stoto@stoto-laptop:~$ cat backlight.sh 
#!/bin/bash

$act
act=`cat /sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/leds/smc::kbd_backlight/brightness`
echo $1
case "$1" in
	inc)
		if [[ $act -lt 255 ]]; then
			act=$((act+5))
			echo $act | tee /sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/leds/smc::kbd_backlight/brightness
		fi
	;;

	dec)
		if [[ $act -gt 4 ]]; then
                        act=$((act-5))
                        echo $act | tee /sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/leds/smc::kbd_backlight/brightness
                fi
	;;

	*) echo "Usage: inc or dec"
	;;
esac

Save the script somewhere. I saved in my home, and made a symlink to /bin/backlight.sh but its optional
I binded it to the brightness control keys in:

System -> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts

Make 2 Custom shortcuts with the add button:
-BrightnessUp, command: /bin/backlight.sh inc
-BrightnessDown, command: /bin/backlight.sh dec

This is only working if you have access to the brightness control file.
Putting sudo in the command won't work, it works with gksudo, but then
you will have massive amounts of windows popping up when you hold the
brightness control key.

So the best solution i found:
sudo chmod 777 /sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/leds/smc::kbd_backlight/brightness

It works like a charm.

-- 
[Jaunty] MacBook 5.1 keyboard backlight not supported
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/337945
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Mactel
Support, which is the registrant for Mactel Support.

Status in Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL): New
Status in Mactel Support: In Progress
Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu: Incomplete

Bug description:
The keyboard backlight on the MacBook 5.1 is not supported as of Jaunty (Ubuntu 9.04) Alpha 5. This is supported in Intrepid (Ubuntu 8.10) by the Mactel PPA packages hal-applesmc, hid-dkms, and possibly nvidia-bl-dkms, though I installed the nvidia-bl-dkms package for Jaunty.