Back-lit keyboard?


froggyman

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I'm sure other people have thought of having a back lit keyboard before. How easy (or effective) do you think it would be to "hack" a bunch of mini LEDs into the keyboard by drilling a tiny hole in them from the back and using the pandora's battery. I was thinking of something similar to how people will often put LEDs in their PSP's trigger to react to the sound.
 
I don't really know how easy it would be, but if memory serves, there are pads on the Pandora's PCB for carrying out that modification, if you can find a feasible way to make the light shine through the solid black rubber that makes up the keymat. I don't know if you're aware, but the other forum has the "official hacking manual" available - however, obviously, modifications like this will void your warranty.
 
I've seen the official hacking guide, but in all truth I'm not much of a hardware hacker and wouldn't be comfortable carrying out something like this on such an expensive (and rare) device.
 
.....the screen kind of lights up the keyboard in case you didnt think about that
 
You could possibly drill and insert transparent epoxy in the key-mat, but I can't imagine how you could illuminate the lettering clearly or avoid destroying the conductive pads. Probably needs a new keymat with different materials. Not impossible, but not a weekend project...
 
I like that option from the pocketables link... but when all said and done, a usb lamp would do the job without having to hack anything...
 
I've mentioned this before, but some modern HP laptops have a pop out light over the screen. It looks distinctly pointless in the daytime, but once light levels get sufficiently dim to make reading the keys difficult it provides enough light over a wide-enough area to illuminate the key legends:


http://images.techtree.com/ttimages/story/100788_nitelight.jpg


I guess it's just a single blue/white LED with no filter/lens in there so it shouldn't be expensive to make something similar for the Pandora. Problems are finding space in the lid, getting appropriate power there, and fitting it so that it doesn't interfere with closing the pandora. A simple USB light would do the job perfectly well, but this could be a cool hardware mod for someone (and would leave the USB port(s) free)
 
I have seen some solutions that use glow in the dark stickers as well, which might work fine if you could find or make some that fit the pandora's keys.


Edit: I just remembered the pandora is closed all the time, so the stickers probably wouldn't work well as they wouldn't be able to recharge. Oh well :)
 
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I'm just thinking out loud here, but regarding glow-in-the-dark stuff (even though it would be a bit of a pain to "charge" it), I wonder if it's feasible to scrape letter and symbol outlines into the epoxy keytops, using the existing markings as a guide, and slowly run a tiny amount of the paint into the resulting grooves? (Come to think of it, I'm sure someone said something like this a long time ago on the other forum...)


You'd have to be pretty neat, though, and I suppose there's a chance that it could weaken the keytops, too.
 
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wouldn't it be much more feasable to have the company making the keymat to use glow-in-the-dark paint for the keys in place of what is being used as of right now? That seams easier to do all around and probably at no (or extremely little) cost in comparison to what's already being used...
 
Actually glow in the dark pads from the factory might be a fantastic idea. I'm sure a script could be written to run the LCD at 100% bright white for a certain interval while it is plugged in charging. The screen is sitting directly on top of the keys while it is closed.
 
I like the idea of glow in the dark keymats. Wasn't there talk once of alternative parts being available at some point, including keymats? Maybe this could be one of them.
 
I could have sworn that glow-in-the-dark keymats came up a really long time ago, but for some reason I can't remember why they ultimately didn't go with them... Does anyone else remember?
 
If I recall correctly, most everyone think it was useless and that the light from the screen would be good enough.


I think even Craig chimed in and said it is not needed.


Personally, I think it would've been a great addition. I used it quite a few times at night and it is really bothersome to have to tilt the screen to see the keys every time I type.


Another problem is that the keys are so shinny, it is difficult to see the keys even with the screen light.


Those USB attachments are too cumbersome and not a good solution, IMHO.
 
now that we've got reference to the old conversations on this topic... in hindsight, do we really still feel the same about it? If this concept is split enough amongst us, I'd suggest the option be an alternative keymat. If anyone has been planning to start a business offering alternative parts for the Pandora, this would be a perfect jumpstart product... I'm sure plenty of customers are waiting to chime in on this. :)
 
As soon as the business of getting original parts gets settled, I'm sure the business of altering them will start :p
 
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