[Arm-netbook] Keyboard

[Vincent Legoll]

Hi,

I don't know why, but I was kind of expecting this kind of answer ;-)

>> Is the laptop's keyboard only option the
>> Chicony P/N MP-03756GB-5287.
>
>  and associated variants, yes.

In fact the question I had in mind was more:

If there are such associated variants that can be (almost) drop-in
replacement, but with backlighting...

Because I naively expected the producers to reuse their designs when
adding such slight variations...

So the answer is no... Too bad

>> Or maybe the laptop case can be modified to allow placement of a few
>> leds around the screen that would get light on the keyboard. I had
>> this on an old T42p and it was better than nothing.
>
>  that would be much simpler - it's still abouuut... 2-3 weeks of work,
> redesigning casework

Ouch, I was thinking of just one or two small holes in the casing, and friction
slip the LEDs inside... I would not have expected this to take significant
work. It could even be done by careful drilling, without redesign.

> that's assuming no LED circuits are needed and
> there's a convenient place to draw power off of.  if it was under PWM
> control of something (to change brightness) that's.. 3-5 weeks of PCB
> design work and PCB assembly, 1-2 weeks of component sourcing and
> verification.

Here I show my almost complete lack of electronics-fu, I thought LEDs
were so low power that they could get piggybacked to the display power
line with just a 1K resistor added, and maybe a switch, to avoid needing
to route a GPIO there just for that.

>  *deep breath*.... get a small $2 torch from walmart :)

That's where I'm coming from, and where I expected not to stay... :-)

Especially as this is absolutely not eco-conscious, the one I got lost leds
after just a few weeks of light use, and now is getting useless. Maybe that
was bad luck, but I'm not holding my breath with a new one...

But thanks for the very detailed answer.

-- 
Vincent Legoll