I would like to take a used backlit keyboard from an AL book and use it as a desktop keyboard. The apple system profiler stats that it is a USB device so for a second I will assume that this is possible.
Any ideas on how to do this or does anyone know of a backlit solution as slick as apples for the desktop?
Thanks
Not all AiBook keyboards are usb. I'll use the 15" models as a reference point as they are the most plentiful. The 1.0/1.25 ghz and 1.33/1.5 ghz models are actually using an adb keyboard and trackpad. The 1.5/1.67 (january 2005 models with sudden motion sensor) and later have usb for the keyboard and trackpad. For what you want do do, you will want the top case and keyboard from a 1.5/1.67 ghz PowerBook G4 or later. The internal connector can be hacked to connect to regular USB. However, do not expect the backlighting to work - that will require the onboard ambient light sensors that are directly connected to the logic board on the 15" and 17" PowerBook G4.
That, having been said, you can modify the backlight so it works all the time - you'll have to disconnect the wiring to the fibre optics, and wire those to get power directly from USB. It's not a perfect hack, but you'll always have a backlit keyboard.