Color management in Ubuntu MATE?

Support & Help Requests
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Are there any in-built color calibration options in Ubuntu MATE or any color management features planned for future versions? Most laptop screens are not color-calibrated by factory. For example, my new Lenovo Thinkpad T460 has an annoying yellowish tint. Does anyone know how I can fix this? How do you color-calibrate your laptop screens in Ubuntu MATE?

I have also heard that some laptops have a special reading mode (in the case of Lenovo it is called Paper Display), so I am wondering if it could also be related to this and how to switch between different color profiles.

Update: I read a bit about color management and two programs were frequently mentioned: LPROF and Gnome Color Manager. Can you recommend any of these and how do you get these programs and new .icc files installed? How does DisplayCAL (formerly dispcalGUI) compare to the other two?

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If you use Nvidia’s drivers, you can tweak color settings using Nvidia X server settings

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I don’t have Nvidia drivers. Any other more general possibilities? I cannot believe that there are no color management possibilities in UM. When I looked into other distros there always seemed to be some kind of color manager included by default.

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Hi,

For MATE, I normally use DisplayCAL plus a colorimetric device to calibrate and profile displays. DisplayCAL also handles icc profile loading upon system start (can also load different profiles at any time if required).

You mention a yellow tint, warmer than 6500K (great for photo/video editing, and graphics creation)?

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I have also used DisplayCAL. In the Options menu I clicked on Install display device profile. I downloaded a preconfigured .icm file from a laptop testing website for my laptop model and it worked well. The yellow tint is gone and I could easily switch back to the default if I wanted to. Do you know what the difference to .icc files is? I mostly read that this is all about .icc files yet the only one I could find was a .icm one.

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Great to hear you’ve found a usable profile, always a bit of a compromise, as all screens have slight, or even extreme variations, but usually better than no profile.

Difference between icm and icc seems to be a Microsoft naming convention.

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Yeah, for example for my X220 I have not yet found a suitable color profile. But I am glad the issue is solved for my T460. I still hope that @Wimpy will think of a color management solution for Ubuntu MATE. Ubuntu MATE is a great distribution for filmmakers and photographers and software installation is easy thanks to the Software Boutique. But most of them would probably need to color-calibrate their screens. At the moment, there is neither any default application nor any software in the Boutique for color mangement. Do you know how this is solved in Ubuntu Studio? @stevecook172001 If I remember correctly, you have used Ubuntu Studio for a while?

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Hi Maro, I tend to use Ubuntu Studio for 3d stuff such as Meshlab, Blender and some photogrammetry software (which I added) . Also, a lot of messing around with midi and synth stuff that comes with Ubuntu Studio. Indeed, my main reason for installing the meta-package Ubuntu Studio is for the audio stuff. But I engage in little to none movie-making I am afraid. The video stuff that comes with Ubuntu studio is nice, though, I should say. so, maybe you should give it a go and see what you think.

You can download and install the Ubuntu-Studio meta-package all in one go by following instructions below:

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I looked at the Ubuntu Studio website again and found a recent comment suggesting to add DisplayCal to the distribution. It seems that their 16.04 edition also doesn't have any color management tools on board.