Linux Mint 20 Color Calibration not working

[Vogelfreund]

I can start the color management from the cinnamon menu, but when I press the calibrate button nothing happens. Any Ideas?

[InfoLibre]

Same for me.

[absque fenestris]

If you were expecting a color calibration tool à la MacOSX: No, there is no such thing.

The idea is that you can store your own (or supplied) color profiles for screens and printers.

"Own profiles" means calibration with a colorimeter. The applications for this do exist: Argyll e.g. belongs to it. If you enter "color management" in the Synaptic Package Manager, you will get many suggestions - exclusively related to the use of a hardware calibration tool.

... if you already have existing profiles on a Mac, you can import them.


(Windows the same - but with this OS I'm not a "bright candle" ... )

[antikythera]

I can start the color management from the cinnamon menu, but when I press the calibrate button nothing happens. Any Ideas?

The calibrate button only works when you plug in a colorimeter. You can however instead add any existing ICC profiles you already have for your monitor. Problem is they won't necessarily be accurate now if the monitor is a couple of years old. Also, changing the brightness can alter the RGB values too.

I have tuned mine with a colorimeter but do re-profile them every 6 months using DisplayCAL.

[absque fenestris]

...
I have tuned mine with a colorimeter but do re-profile them every 6 months using DisplayCAL.

Hi antikythera

Which colorimeter do you use? I've been thinking about buying one - but the prices are too high for useless experiments.

[antikythera]

I have a Datacolor Spyder5, not their latest model but it still works very well and argyllCMS compatible drivers were automatically downloaded for it by DisplayCAL.

[absque fenestris]

Thank you. I don't want to hijack this thread, but I think this are informations that can be of use to anyone interested in color calibration.

[InfoLibre]

I calibrated my screen with a Spider 2.
When I plug the spider2, the button Calibrate in Preferences - Colors doesn't work. Nothing happens, I must manually start DisplayCAL.
After adding an ICC profile, the button Show details in Preferences - Colors doesn't work.

[antikythera]

I calibrated my screen with a Spider 2.
When I plug the spider2, the button Calibrate in Preferences - Colors doesn't work. Nothing happens, I must manually start DisplayCAL.
After adding an ICC profile, the button Show details in Preferences - Colors doesn't work.

That button doesn't work for me either but the profile still loads and works okay.

[cliffcoggin]

I investigated colour calibration a couple of years ago, but gave up the idea when I found even a secondhand Spyder would cost about £75. I could not justify that cost for the limited benefits.

[antikythera]

It depends how many screens you have that you can use them on I guess, calibration can reduce eye strain while improving contrast, brightness and colour accuracy.

Displays do drift over time from their factory fresh state, so even if you used the monitor's ICC profile on the manufacturer's website it would be wrong after a year.

[absque fenestris]

Two things that also work without problems with a Linux system: the Lagom monitor test and the ECI gray value/gamma templates.
Both are aged but still relevant.

LCD monitors have become faster and much cheaper - so cheap that I wonder whether packaging, transport and storage will even cover costs. Wages don't seem to play a role in our new, beautiful slave millennium anyway ...

I saw monitors in operation at customers, friends - but also in well-known advertising agencies, which I would have immediately thrown in the garbage.
And such contemporaries then discuss with me the coloring of my illustrations and my photo retouching and image processing work ...

@ cliffcoggin: this is exactly when calibrated and color-accurate monitors come into play - you earn your money with it.
Then one or two hundred dollars are not so relevant, but it has to work within a reasonable period of time.
And preferably with a Linux system too ...


http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/


http://www.eci.org/en/downloads

see:

Monitor
Here you can find useful “monitor” downloads.
eci_monitortest_mac.sit 597 kb 2005-01-11
eci_monitortest_pc.zip 962 kb 2004-12-13

[cliffcoggin]

It was the Lagom test that finally dissuaded me from pursuing the matter any further, as I discovered I would also need to buy a better newer monitor to get decent colour adjustment.

[absque fenestris]

It was the Lagom test that finally dissuaded me from pursuing the matter any further, as I discovered I would also need to buy a better newer monitor to get decent colour adjustment.

Yes, I know - the Lagom test can be very sobering.
On the other hand, I wear glasses - and glasses are expensive. I have a glasses frame for 20 Dollars / Swiss francs - the glasses themselves then cost an additional 480.-
So - it costs something to see.
The unspeakable cathode monitors over a period of 15 years weren't exactly good for my eyes either, and so I've been indulging in the luxury of excellent Eizo LCD monitors for about 10 years.
Even the small Huawei laptop with its Hi-DPI monitor is not bad ...

But my experimental Acer netbook! Two or three hours and my eyes are watering and I see everything twice - horrible.

[cliffcoggin]

I have only a single monitor, and although the computer is principally for work, accurate colour reproduction is not essential for office documents or photographs of work.