'I am kinda surprised you wanted to go to shop for that issue, since you knew it was the keyboard
--but then, I don't know what you meant by "broke the connection" for the keyboard
I had thought you meant damaged the USB jack or plug end..
You're correct. And I'm fairly confident now that I might have been able to source the part, including the ribbon cable, and made a decent attempt at repairing it myself, despite a warning from the guy at the repair shop that doing so would be a terrible idea ... followed by ... "you might instead want to consider one of our refurbished laptops" ... all with Windows 7, naturally. As I stated earlier, these repair shops deserve to earn both a living and a profit. Finding those that are equally competent with Linux OS's is the challenge. At least in my neck of the woods (Idaho). I suspect there is an embedded Linux community at ISU within the IT, GIS groups , and student body. Maybe, just maybe ... a small start up (moonlight) enterprise dealing with Linux OS hardware/software repair might be, if not feasible, at least educational, and fun.
B.T.W., I believe you have directed me towards solutions on other postings. Thanks and best regards.