Asus GL551JM backlit keyboard

[technomancer]

Thank you for the replies. I had hit/miss luck getting it to work. So here is what i did

The keyboard backlight is driven by Asus drivers, ATK package, and isn't available
for linux.
-I opened up the laptop and found the keyboard flat cable and next to it was a 2 wire(4 pin) connector.
This secondary flat cable is the power for the backlights in the keyboard.
-I put the battery in, put my meter leads on the contacts and measured the keyboard at boot when it turns on momentarily.
5V is supplied, then it is completely software driven.
-So i found the transistor that controls the keyboard backlight (2 actually, high/low)
I figured out the in/out/ trigger pins. Then i just soldered a wire from the transistor trigger
on the power led to the KB backlight trigger.(avoiding power issues since this will just turn it on, not supply 5v)

Now the backlight stays on no matter what OS I run while the machine is on. I may put in a manual switch just in case
but it is so hard to see that i don't mind it on all the time.

*Solved with hardware hack -- (i have pics of the mod soon to be uploaded.....)

Thank You again guys, best responses in a forum I have ever had.