This patch solves or at least works around my worst problem. pommed now beeps for me, as well as doing the right thing for the keyboard backlight and eject keys.
diff -pruN pommed-1.39~dfsg/pommed/pommed.c pommed-1.39~dfsg.mine/pommed/pommed.c --- pommed-1.39~dfsg/pommed/pommed.c 2011-06-02 11:24:05.000000000 +0200 +++ pommed-1.39~dfsg.mine/pommed/pommed.c 2012-07-17 09:20:48.585470152 +0200 @@ -939,8 +939,6 @@ main (int argc, char **argv) if (ret < 0) { logmsg(LOG_ERR, "LCD backlight probe failed, check debug output"); - - exit(1); } ret = evdev_init();