Well, you could strace dsmetest and see what it writes to /tmp/dsmesock. See similar reverse-engineered dsme code here
https://garage.maemo.org/plugins/scm...ot=powerlaunch
or otherwise you need to run 'chroot /mnt/initfs dsmetest -l <level>' as root.

As for my kernel patch - it implements translation table for values known to be written to /sys/devices/platform/omapfb/panel/backlight_level by original Nokia applet (or more correctly said - by dsme daemon). Then the kernel fakes that such value is written (and returns it on read so it looks genuine) but it writes custom value to hardware instead. Also the fade effect killing simply ignores other values than those known to be written by the applet so the intermediate states do nothing.

Since values 0-127 are valid for the sys file, manipulation of translation table is done by writing values 128 and up. That's why the formula adds 128.

In your applet you can perhaps change just current level i.e. use 0 as sw level in the formula (and maybe preset dim level too).