Ok aside from apparently trying to take the record for the longest topic title... what I'm curious about is the possibility of using the compact fluros from the LCD backlight in a DIY arcade cabinet setup? What I want to use them for... if possible is to provide light for the marquee that will be at the top of the cabinet (with an as yet undecided logo/image... ie MAME, or Last StarFighter, etc)

I have two LCD monitors that I've stripped already, one was a 15inch the other a 17inch (the 15 inch LCD ended up dying when I tore one of the FFC's... oops) so I'm guessing all the essential parts are there... I just need direction as to which parts to salvage and perhaps how to salvage them. Ideally I will be running these off the computer power supply that is in the system for MAME to run.

Does anyone have any ideas for how to go about this salvage/hack operation or if it is even feasible (incidentally I still have the perspex that was between the LCD and the lights if that is required for this to work best also... which I imagine may be the case given it was required to direct the light evenly over the LCD panel in the first place.).

Also for anyone who is interested (and partly why this passion has been reignited/kicked up a notch) there is a fan made (but not rubbish as you may first think) version of the StarFighter game from the movie "The Last Starfighter" it features sounds and music from the movie and is damn fun and oh so nostalgic... I highly encourage any fan of the movie to get it...
http://www.roguesynapse.com/games/last_starfighter.php

So thanks for any help (oh and any detailed instructions on a keyboard hack to enable connection/mapping to arcade buttons/joystick would be appreciated also... I've found one guide but it was a little brief and didn't have as many visual aids as I would like... but will do at a pinch).

Thanks again and happy movies and gaming.

I don't know of any hack, but I have been using Ultimarc's #-PAC boards (J-PAC and I-PAC) for all of my projects, and they work like a dream. Extremely configurable, and almost plug and play.

how large will this marquee be? the lights in the lcd's are only as wide as the lcd and after that you'll have a severe drop-off in brightness. You'd almost be better off using regular flourescent tubes or cfl's with some light diffusers.

my suggestion would be to follow Volleys' lead in the AVS forums and do what he did... he uses rope lights....

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=810621

I have done something similar with 8x10 shadow boxes for displaying my photos with great success...

Thanks for the tips/suggestions everyone. Currently I'm not sure how big the marquee will be as I haven't made the cabinet yet, was just thinking ahead, but I can appreciate that size will be a limiting factor for the usefulness of the fluro's... I was mostly wondering as it would mean I could just use what is lying around/recycle but you're quite right... I may have to go a normal fluro or the rope lights etc as suggested.