DIY Laptop: LCD, part 2

Before starting on the messier parts of the project (heatsink, case etc.) I wanted to be sure that the LCD could actually be made to work: could I get the A1707/A190x LCD to display an image? For that, I would need to connect DisplayPort data lanes to motherboard eDP output in addition to power, AUX and control signals. In early summer, I made several attempts to solder the wires of Quadrangle's unterminated ACES connector to the flexible connector I used to check AUX (see previous post). These were not successful: the wire gauge was a little too large to fit the tiny solder pads, and even when I somehow squeezed them in, Linux kernel's i915 driver showed me that the DisplayPort main link was not going up. It did show that the first stages (clock recovery and equalization) were succeeding, which was peculiar because, as I'd belatedly realized, there was no way ~8Gbps DisplayPort signal could be transmitted through 0.5m of unshielded spaghetti wires of unknown impedance. I obtained a dmesg boot log from a live A190x, and learned that Retina's TCon (LCD controller) is set up to skip DisplayPort clock recovery and equalization stages, probably because the native connector is so short. These observations forced me to rethink my approach: I decided to ditch the wires and make a interposer PCB. Instead of a separate ACES connector part, I could make a DIY card-edge connector by printing the contacts on one side and filing away the other. (Cue Russian "file to fit" joke.) The I-PEX receptacle I could lift from a dead LCD. This took a while to design because I was worried about screwing up the impedance again and went as far as simulating it in an EM simulator, and a few weeks more until the PCB came back from OSHPark. In the interval I bought myself a starter SMD rework station and gave it a whirl, but it was obvious that I couldn't hope to resolder the delicate 0.35mm pitch I-PEX connector with my basic equipment and even more basic skills. A friend's repairman friend, M. Grekhov of НоутбукOFF, graciously agreed to help me out with the I-PEX, though, and the rest of the parts (a couple of LEDs to indicate LCD power and HPD) I could manage myself. The complete item worked perfectly the first time I tried it, which was most gratifying. I could see the cloned Windows desktop on the Retina if I shone a flashlight behind it. Besides the DisplayPort data and AUX, this PCB breaks out the backlight and I2C connections, so I'll be able to use it to design a backlight power supply and control circuit.