Comment 17 for bug 201933

thinkpad_acpi gets loaded by dmi, so it was loaded. video wasn't but I tried it at one point and it didn't make a difference.

[katzj@aglarond Desktop]$ xrandr --prop
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 1024
VGA disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
LVDS connected 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
        BACKLIGHT_CONTROL: combination
                supported: native legacy combination kernel
        BACKLIGHT: 18937 (0x000049f9) range: (0,18937)
   1024x768 57.6*+ 85.0 75.0 70.1 60.0
   832x624 74.6
   800x600 85.1 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
   640x480 85.0 72.8 75.0 59.9
   720x400 85.0
   640x400 85.1
   640x350 85.1
TV disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
        BOTTOM: 37 (0x00000025) range: (0,100)
        RIGHT: 46 (0x0000002e) range: (0,100)
        TOP: 36 (0x00000024) range: (0,100)
        LEFT: 54 (0x00000036) range: (0,100)
        TV_FORMAT: NTSC-M
                supported: NTSC-M NTSC-443 NTSC-J PAL-M
                           PAL-N PAL

But note that that run is after building the driver with th ebacklight patch you posted to the xorg list last week. And said patch fixes things for me.