On Thu, 21 Dec 2023, at 13:36, songbird wrote: > i've > already worn some of letters off the keys. :( but, well, i got > it on sale for about $30 so i really can't complain.
For years I've used Dymo labels to replace keyboard legends. (Not the 1960s/1970s thick 3d labels, but 'printed' ones). After sticking individual letters onto keytops (usually using tweezers to position them as accurately as possible) I put mutiple coats of clear nail varnish over them - which seems to lengthen their life & help to hold down the edges of the stickers. When they eventually need replaced it's sometimes difficult to get a Dymo letter off a key, needing something sharp (eg a needle or scalpel) to lift the sticky label off the key. Then I clean the key with isopropyl alcohol (as used eg for cleaning heads on tape recorders), & make & attach a new label. Mostly I use Dymo media corresponding to the colour scheme of the original keyboard, but - eg on a laptop which has white legends on black keys - I've replaced some legends with "black print on yellow tape" labels which are much easier to see and provide me with a few visual landmarks on the keyboard ... which helps me when I don't yet quite need to put a room light on. I keep hoping that my next laptop will have a backlit keyboard but very often the machines I choose (for other higher-priority criteria) don't have them. I've also tried a few clip-on mini lights (plugged into a spare USB socket) but many such lights come with poor quality clips &/ cables that are too short to reach the USB socket of choice (or indeed any USB socket). -- Jeremy Nicoll - my opinions are my own.
