debian/ubuntu - invert all colours in desktop session (colors)

Question

Sometimes I need to flip from a light colour scheme to a dark one quickly, and I need it to apply not just to the desktop theme but also to any webpages that are open etc.

On the Mac there's a neat shortcut for this (Cmd+Alt+Ctrl+8) - it simply inverts all colours displayed, so the screen looks like a photographic negative.

Is there an equivalent of this that I can use in my debian/ubuntu desktop sessions?

Solution 1

A window manager independent way is:

xcalib -invert -alter

From the xcalib man page

xcalib loads 'vcgt'-tag of ICC profiles to the X-server using the XVidMode Extension in order to calibrate your display.

You can install it using sudo apt-get install xcalib. To make it more convenient assign a keyboard shortcut to the command (e.g. Cmd+Alt+Ctrl+8).

Solution 2

The following works on Pop-OS 21, which is an Ubuntu variant.

Settings > Accessibility > Zoom > Magnifier > Full Screen

Settings > Accessibility > Zoom > Color Effects > White on Black

Alt-Super-8

Comments

[terdon]

What Desktop Environment/Window manager do you use? Gnome? Unity? Cinnamon?

[Dan Stowell]

Thanks for the nudge - I'm using LXDE/Openbox, but I realise I was assuming the effect would happen lower down (in Xorg) - and there is an answer that does do this, hurrah.

[Tristan]

It only inverts one of my two displays

[Afr]

@TristanT use -s 0 for first screen and -s 1 for second. See also.

[scjorge]

gotta be carefulnif you are using redshift superuser.com/q/874859/202217

[Jonny Asmar]

Using redshift over here. All you've got to do after the blink is fire a redshift -o Also, I think xcalib may have been updated? Or is better compatible with some drivers. Works fine on all 3 of my connected displays.

[sashoalm]

If you get "Error - unsupported ramp size 0", see askubuntu.com/questions/930084/…

[Reb.Cabin]

$ xcalib -invert -alter Error - unsupported ramp size 0 in fact produces this error for every option

[joe]

This leaves a weird square trail behind my cursor, but otherwise works well. If someone knows how to use xcalib (or any other approach) in a way that doesn't affect my xrandr brightness settings, I'd love to hear! Until this is good enough - thanks!

[Reb.Cabin]

@joe I confirm the "weird square trail." Annoying but merely annoying in my opinion for ordinary work. Would be bad for a screencast.