Forgot to mention a thing. · 7:14am Jul 20th, 2018
Given how I typically spend this particular time of day writing and working on my stories in general, I've often found it annoying that my Surface RT has a non-backlit type cover.
My solution? Cobble together a USB-based LED frontlight for the keyboard.
All it took was one hour of my morning, an old USB cable, two paperclips, and light-up party balloons that deflated ages ago.
Basically, I soldered together three LEDs from the balloons, confirmed using the button cell batteries from those same balloons that the LEDs were compatible with 5 volt power (or at least, 4.5 volts), and stuck a resister across their V+ pin to connect to the corresponding wire in the USB cable. From there it was a matter of connecting the ground pin to the cable, covering the whole thing in a pile of electrical tape, and using paperclips to make it possible to position the light without the cable flopping around.
So far, my Surface RT's USB port is undamaged, meaning that the load from the LEDs and resistor likely isn't gonna put much strain on the tablet's circuits.
So now I have a frontlit keyboard. And the frontlight can double as a flashlight.
That sounds cool. Good job being a major techie!
4904311
Ha.