OT: ThinkPad Keyboard

Well, my reading of the HMM shows that there are two "classes" of
Thinkpad 760 keyboards - FRU 29H9395 for the 760 C,CD,E,ED,L,LD,EL and
ELD models, and FRU 46H5779 for the 760 XD and XL models.  Then note
that these are "keyboard units" -- made up of the base keyboard, LCD
indicator, speakers, keyboard card, cable, etc.  The same base
keyboard is used for *all* of the Thinkpad 760s -- for US English,
that's FRU 29H9603.  So the good news is that you can use the base
keyboard from FRU 29H9395 to fix your FRU 46H5779 assembly assuming
that the problem is in the keyswitches, trackpoint and/or "mouse
buttons".

A more critical look at the components of the "keyboard unit" shows
that the differences between the 29H9395 and the 46H5779 include the
LCD indicator (and cover), the right and left speakers, and the
keyboard card.  This implies to me that you can *probably* use the
29H9395 assembly in the 760XD or 760XL as well as the models where it
is officially supported, but you may lose one or more unique features
on the XD/XL (a special LCD indicator?  Some keystroke combination
control?)  It's probably not important, and those $15 auction prices
look pretty good -- IBM must have been dumping a lot of spare Thinkpad
760 parts on the market.

Rick Ekblaw