If you plug a non-tablet LCD cable into a tablet motherboard, will thinklight work?
(I know it probably wouldn't because of BIOS limitations, blah blah blah. I'm looking for someone who actually tried it out.)

yes, an X6xT will power an X6x upper LCD assembly with full functionality including the thinklight, bluetooth, and FPR provided you flash the tablet planar with a notebook BIOS.   bluetooth and FPR modules are both USB devices and can swap locations between the planar and LCD cable depending on installation location.

i played with all of this back in 2008 while developing the X61sxga+ project.

i'm curious though... what do you have in mind?

What about using tablet BIOS? Does the ThinkLight still work, or is it "stuck" on off in this case?

The reason I'm asking is because if the tablet BIOS actually supports ThinkLight functionality, I would like to try wiring up an LED to the correct pins so it can be controlled by BIOS.

the tablet BIOS will display a thinklight icon with a slash through it but i don't recall definitively if it sent a signal or not.   it's been years.   i think it sent a signal to the X61 cable and it was the icon itself that bothered me due to showing the same icon whether on or off.

worse case the X60 notebook BIOS will control the tablet provided you use the SXGA+ version.   i should have an X60 SXGA+ no-1802 version somewhere if you need it.

the camera cutout would make for a good location for the light provided you can fab something to hold it there.   i always thought the latch would be the perfect spot although it would likely be the most fragile.

I just tested the non-tablet X60 LCD acble on X60 Tablet board and it shuts off after 1 second when turned on, even without anything hooked on the cable.
After I flashed notebook X60 bios image onto Tablet board, it worked fine but few LEDs (AC, BATT, numlock, capslock, sleep) do not work and unfortunately thinklight [b]does not work [b]either. Wireless, WWAN, circled Z and HDD led work ok.
I studied the schematics and compared boards and there are some components missing (like gate drives and resistors) on tablet board. So I soldered as many as I could find at first glance and got the AC icon working but no other icons and no thinklight.

I don't have actual experience with X61 tablet and notebook boards but schematics show differences in assembly on those also.

FPR and Bluetooth modules work without a problem.

P.S. I'm typing this on the hybrid X6x: X61 that got X60 Tablet L7400 board + SXGA+ screen conversion. Nice thing is that with the oversized X61 heatsink the L7400 is so cool that the fan pretty much never comes on and stays under 50 degrees C with tpfc.

flashing an X61s with an X61T BIOS and using the notebook planar to drive an SXGA+ X61T upper assembly will work.   that much i do remember.   back in 2008 when the SXGA+ notebook mod was being developed, my original thought was to use the tablet's display cable and extending it.   ultimately i fabricated the jumper harness to retain the thinklight with minimal effort.

That explains it as the X61s/X60s notebook planar has the components soldered.

Well, looks like bad news then. Thanks everyone. Time to look for another fun project...