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Kaypro Corporation was an American home and personal computer manufacturer based out of San Diego in the 1980s. The company was founded by Non-Linear Systems (NLS) to compete with the popular Osborne 1 portable
microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (PC ...
. Kaypro produced a line of rugged, "luggable"
CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initi ...
-based computers sold with an extensive software bundle which supplanted its competitors and quickly became one of the top-selling personal computer lines of the early 1980s. Kaypro was exceptionally loyal to its original customer base but slow to adapt to the changing computer market and the advent of
IBM PC compatible IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones ...
technology. It faded from the mainstream before the end of the decade and was eventually forced into bankruptcy in 1992.


History

Kaypro began as Non-Linear Systems, a maker of electronic test equipment, founded in 1952 by Andrew Kay, the inventor of the digital
voltmeter A voltmeter is an instrument used for measuring electric potential difference between two points in an electric circuit. It is connected in parallel. It usually has a high resistance so that it takes negligible current from the circuit. ...
. In the 1970s, NLS was an early adopter of microprocessor technology, which enhanced the flexibility of products such as production-line test sets. In 1981, Non-Linear Systems began designing a personal computer, called ''KayComp'', that would compete with the popular Osborne 1 transportable microcomputer. In 1982, Non-Linear Systems organized a daughter company named the Kaypro Corporation. Despite being the first model to be released commercially, the original system was branded as the ''Kaypro II'' (at a time when one of the most popular microcomputers was the
Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...
). The Kaypro II was designed to be portable like the Osborne, contained in a single enclosure with a handle for carrying. Set in an aluminum case, with a keyboard that snapped onto the front, covering the 9" CRT display and drives, it weighed and was equipped with a Zilog Z80
microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circ ...
, 64 kilobytes of RAM, and two 5¼-inch double-density single-sided
floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined ...
drives. It ran Digital Research, Inc.'s
CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initi ...
operating system, the industry standard for 8-bit computers with 8080 or Z80 CPUs, and sold for about . The company advertised the Kaypro II as "the computer that sells for ". Although some of the press mocked its design—one magazine described Kaypro as "producing computers packaged in tin cans"—others raved about its value, noting that the included software bundle had a retail value over by itself, and by mid-1983 the company was selling more than 10,000 units a month, briefly making it the fifth-largest computer maker in the world. The Kaypro II was part of a new generation of consumer-friendly personal computers that were designed to appeal to novice users who wanted to perform basic productivity on a machine that was relatively easy to set up and use. It managed to correct most of the Osborne 1's deficiencies: the screen was larger and showed more characters at once, the floppy drives stored over twice as much data, and it was better-built and more reliable. Computers such as the Kaypro II were widely referred to as "appliance" or "turnkey" machines; they offered little in the way of expandability or features that would interest hackers or electronics hobbyists and were mainly characterized by their affordable price and a collection of bundled software. While it was easy to obtain and use new software with the Kaypro II—there were thousands of application programs available for CP/M, and every Kaypro 8-bit computer had a full 64 KB of RAM, enough to run virtually any CP/M program—the hardware expandability of this computer was nearly nonexistent. The Kaypro II had no expansion slots or system bus connector, no spare ROM socket, no peripheral bus, only two I/O ports, and an ASCII text-only green-on-black video display, of 80 x 24 characters, that could only be shown on the internal 9" CRT monitor (despite the video being scanned at NTSC TV-compatible rates). In contrast, one feature that was favorable to electronics hobbyists was that all the chips on the Kaypro II mainboard were installed in sockets, not soldered to the board, making it easy to repair the machines or even to splice custom circuits into the stock logic (temporarily or permanently). Also, while Kaypro machines were generally not upgradeable without factory-unauthorized custom modification, some Kaypro computers that came with single-sided floppy disk drives could be upgraded to double-sided drives, and some that came with only one floppy drive could have a second drive added. (The Kaypro II itself may be upgradeable or not to double-sided drives depending on which of two possible mainboard types is installed in the machine.) Despite their limitations, the boxy units were so popular that they spawned a network of hobbyist user groups across the United States that provided local support for Kaypro products; the company worked with the user groups and would have a salesman drop by if in the area. Kaypro's success contributed to the eventual failure of the Osborne Computer Corporation and Morrow Designs. A more rugged seeming, "industrialized" design than competitors such as the Osborne made the Kaypro popular for commercial/industrial applications. Its
RS-232 In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard originally introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' ('' data terminal equipment'') suc ...
port was widely used by service technicians for on-site equipment configuration, control and diagnostics. The relatively high quality of mechanical fabrication seen in the aluminum-cased Kaypro 8-bit computers was a natural outgrowth of NLS's prior business building professional and industrial electronic test instruments. The version of CP/M included with the Kaypro could also read the Xerox 810's single-sided, single-density 86k floppy format. The Kaypro 8-bit computers used the popular Western Digital FD1793 floppy disk controller; any disk format that the FD1793 could read and/or write (at 250 kbit/s), the Kaypro II, 4, 10, and similar models are capable of reading and/or writing. Theoretically, any soft-sector MFM or FM floppy format that is within the limits of the FD1793 could be read or written if the user wrote their own utility program. Kaypro published and subsidized ''ProFiles: The Magazine for Kaypro Users'', a monthly, 72-page, four-color magazine that went beyond coverage of Kaypro's products to include substantive information on CP/M and
MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few o ...
; frequent contributors included
Ted Chiang Ted Chiang (born 1967) is an American science fiction writer. His work has won four Nebula awards, four Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and six Locus awards. His short story "Story of Your Life" was the basis of th ...
, David Gerrold, Robert J. Sawyer, and Ted Silveira. Keeping its namesake, the publication profiled Kaypro founder Andrew Kay and software engineer Stephen Buccaci. Another popular magazine that covered Kaypro computers was '' Micro Cornucopia'', published at
Bend, Oregon Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Bend Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, with a population of 99,178 at the time of the 2020 U ...
.
Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...
used a Kaypro II to write and collaboratively edit (via modem from
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
) his 1982 novel '' 2010: Odyssey Two'' and the later film adaptation. A book, ''The Odyssey File - The Making of 2010'', was later released about the collaboration. Following the success of the Kaypro II, Kaypro moved on to produce a long line of similar computers into the mid-1980s. Exceedingly loyal to its original core group of customers, Kaypro continued using the CP/M operating system long after it had been abandoned by its competitors. In late 1984, Kaypro introduced its first
IBM PC compatible IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones ...
, the Kaypro 16 transportable. While admitting that "it's what our dealers asked for", the company stated that it would continue to produce its older computers. This was followed by other PC compatibles: the Kaypro PC, Kaypro 286i (the first 286 IBM PC AT compatible), the Kaypro 386, and the Kaypro 2000 (a rugged aluminum-body battery-powered laptop with a detachable keyboard). The slow start into the IBM clone market would have serious ramifications for the company. After several turbulent years, with sales dwindling, Kaypro filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 1990. Despite restructuring, the company was unable to recover and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in June 1992. In 1995, its remaining assets were sold for . The Kaypro name briefly re-emerged as an online vendor of
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...
PCs in 1999, but was discontinued in 2001 by its parent company Premio Inc. because of sluggish sales.


Kaypro computers


Hardware

The Kaypro II has a 2.5 MHz Zilog Z80 microprocessor; 64 KB of RAM; two single-sided 191 KB 5¼-inch floppy disk drives (named A: and B:); and an 80-column,
green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...
monochrome, 9" CRT that was praised for its size and clarity (the Osborne 1 had a 5" display). Early in the Kaypro's life, there was a legal dispute with the owner of the Big Board computer, who charged that the Kaypro II main circuit board was an unlicensed copy or clone. The outer case is constructed of painted
aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
. The computer features a large detachable
keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mu ...
unit that covers the screen and disk drives when stowed. The computer could fit into an airline overhead rack. This and other Kaypro computers (except for the Kaypro 2000) run off regular AC mains power and are not equipped with a
battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
. The Kaypro IV and later the Kaypro 4 have two double-sided disks. The Kaypro 4 was released in 1984, and was usually referred to as ''Kaypro 4 '84'', as opposed to the Kaypro IV, released one year earlier and referred to as ''Kaypro IV '83''. The Kaypro IV uses different screen addresses than the Kaypro II, meaning software has to be specific to the model. The Kaypro 10 followed the Kaypro II, and is much like the Kaypro II and Kaypro 4, with the addition of a 10
megabyte The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Its recommended unit symbol is MB. The unit prefix ''mega'' is a multiplier of (106) in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one megabyte is one million bytes o ...
hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with mag ...
(dually partitioned A: and B:) and replacing one of the two floppy drives (the remaining drive being addressed as C:). The Kaypro 10 also eliminated the complicated procedures to turn the computer on and off often associated with hard disk technology. Kaypro later replaced their CP/M machines with the MS-DOS-based Kaypro 16, Kaypro PC and others, as the
IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team ...
and its clones gained popularity. Kaypro was late to the market, however, and never gained the kind of prominence in the MS-DOS arena that it had enjoyed with CP/M. Instead, Kaypro watched as a new company—
Compaq Compaq Computer Corporation (sometimes abbreviated to CQ prior to a 2007 rebranding) was an American information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced ...
—grabbed its market with the
Compaq Portable The Compaq Portable was an early portable computer which was one of the first IBM PC compatible systems. It was Compaq Computer Corporation's first product, to be followed by others in the Compaq Portable series and later Compaq Deskpro serie ...
, an all-in-one portable computer that was similar to Kaypro's own CP/M portables with the exception of running MS-DOS with near 100% IBM PC compatibility. The Compaq was larger and less durable—whereas the Kaypro had a heavy-gauge alumininum case, the Compaq case was plastic, with a thin-gauge aluminum inner shield to reduce radio frequency interference—but rapidly took over the portable PC market segment. The 1985 introductions of the Kaypro 286i, the first IBM PC AT clone, and the Kaypro 2000, one of the first laptop computers (an MS-DOS system with monochrome LCD and durable aluminum case), did little to change Kaypro's fortunes. Kaypro's failure in the MS-DOS market and other corporate issues helped lead to the company's eventual downfall.


Software

CP/M was the standard
operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...
for the first generation of Kaypros. The first
application software Application may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks ** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a ...
that came with the Kaypro II included a highly unpopular word processor called ''Select'' that was quickly dropped in favor of a proto office suite from Perfect Software which included Perfect Writer, Perfect Calc, Perfect Filer, and Perfect Speller, as well as Kaypro's own S-BASIC
compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs tha ...
(which produced executable .com files). Perfect Filer featured non-relational, flat-file databases suitable for merging a contact list with form letters created in Perfect Writer. Perfect Writer was initially a rebranded version of the
MINCE Mince may refer to: * MINCE, an early text editor for CP/M microcomputers * Mincing, a food preparation technique in which food ingredients are finely divided * Ground meat, also known as ''mince'', meat that has been minced ** Ground beef, also ...
and Scribble software packages from Mark of the Unicorn, which are CP/M implementations of
Emacs Emacs , originally named EMACS (an acronym for "Editor MACroS"), is a family of text editors that are characterized by their extensibility. The manual for the most widely used variant, GNU Emacs, describes it as "the extensible, customizable, ...
and
Scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...
, ported from their original
minicomputer A minicomputer, or colloquially mini, is a class of smaller general purpose computers that developed in the mid-1960s and sold at a much lower price than mainframe and mid-size computers from IBM and its direct competitors. In a 1970 survey, ' ...
-based versions using
BDS C BDS C (or the ''BD Software C Compiler'') is a compiler for a sizeable subset of the C programming language, that ran on and generated code for the Intel 8080 and Zilog Z80 processors. It was the first C compiler for CP/M. It was written by Leor Zo ...
. Later, MBasic (a variant of Microsoft BASIC) and The Word Plus spellchecker were added to the model II suite of software. Word Plus included a set of utilities that could help solve
crossword puzzle A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the ans ...
s or
anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into ''nag a ram'', also the word ...
s, insert soft hyphens, alphabetize word lists, and compute word frequencies. Another utility program called Uniform allowed the Kaypro to read disks formatted by Osborne, Xerox, or
TRS-80 The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of ' ...
computers. The initial bundled applications were soon replaced by the well-known titles WordStar, a
word processor A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features. Early word processors were stand-alone devices dedicated to the function, but current ...
, with MailMerge, originally a third-party accessory, for personalised mass mailings (form letters), the SuperCalc
spreadsheet A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in ...
, two versions of the Microsoft BASIC interpreter, Kaypro's S-BASIC, a bytecode-compiled
BASIC BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages designed for ease of use. The original version was created by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College ...
called C-Basic, and the
dBase II dBase (also stylized dBASE) was one of the first database management systems for microcomputers and the most successful in its day. The dBase system includes the core database engine, a query system, a forms engine, and a programming langu ...
relational database A relational database is a (most commonly digital) database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A system used to maintain relational databases is a relational database management system (RDBMS). Many relati ...
system. Data could be moved between these programs relatively easily by using comma delimited format files (now more commonly known as CSV files), which enhanced the utility of the package. The manuals assumed no computer background, the programs were straightforward to use, and thus it was possible to find the
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of a small company developing the applications needed in-house. The Kaypro II and later models also came with some games, including versions of old character-based games such as ''
Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
''; a few were arcade games re-imagined in
ASCII ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because ...
, including ''
CatChum ''CatChum'' is a text-only clone of '' Pac-Man'' written for the CP/M operating system and made to be operated on the early Kaypro line of luggable computers. CatChum was made within the limitations of Kaypro's early text-only computers. As a r ...
'' (a
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
-like game), ''
Aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
'' (a '' Space Invaders''-like game) and ''
Ladder A ladder is a vertical or inclined set of rungs or steps used for climbing or descending. There are two types: rigid ladders that are self-supporting or that may be leaned against a vertical surface such as a wall, and rollable ladders, such ...
'' (a '' Donkey Kong''-like game). If bought separately, this software would have cost more than the entire hardware and software package together. The Kaypro II was a very usable and (at the time) powerful computer for home or office, even though the painted metal case made it look more like a rugged laboratory instrument than an office machine. It enjoyed a reputation for durability. Later Kaypro CP/M models came with even more software. In 1984, ''
BYTE The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable uni ...
'' magazine observed "Kaypro apparently has tremendous buying and bargaining power," noting the Kaypro 10 came with both WordStar and Perfect Writer, plus "two spelling checkers, two spreadsheets, two communications programs and three versions of BASIC". Later MS-DOS Kaypro computers offered a similar software bundle.


Reception

''
InfoWorld ''InfoWorld'' (abbreviated IW) is an information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a web-only publication. Its parent company today is International Data Group, and its siste ...
'' in 1982 described Kaypro II as "a rugged, functional and practical computer system marketed at a reasonable price." The reviewer called the hardware "first-rate," writing that he had used the computer indoors and outdoors in several countries without fault, and praising the keyboard and screen. Deficiencies included the heavy weight and mediocre documentation. Jerry Pournelle wrote in ''BYTE'' in 1983 that he was able to use a Kaypro II without the documentation. Although he preferred the much more expensive Otrona Attaché, Pournelle called the Kaypro's hardware "impressive" and "rugged," approving of the keyboard layout and "certainly the largest screen you'll ever get in a portable machine." A later review by the magazine described the computer as "best value," citing the rugged hardware design, sharp display, keyboard, documentation, and the extensive bundled software. In 1984 Pournelle stated that "For those without much money, there's no real choice ... you need a Kaypro, which has become both the VW and
Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...
of the micro industry". ''BYTE'' stated in 1984 that while the Kaypro 10 was "not a technologically innovative machine ... the equipment and power delivered for the price are outstanding", noting that the computer "costs less than many stand-alone hard-disk drives". It approved of the "beautiful" monitor as an improvement from the Kaypro II's, and the extensive menus for running software on the hard drive without using the command line. The magazine criticized the "unacceptable" user's guide, and predicted that the large software bundle would be "stupefying" to novice users, but concluded that the computer was an "exceptional value for the money. It should be considered by anyone interested in hard-disk capacity or performance at an excellent price." ''
Creative Computing ''Creative Computing'' was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until December 1985, the magazine covered the spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format t ...
'' in December 1984 chose the Kaypro 2 as the best transportable computer under , praising the "incredible array of software" included for "an astounding " price.


Kaypro by model and year

Kaypro's nomenclature was odd, with the numerical designations for their machines having more to do with the capacity of the drives than the order they were produced. Kaypro also released several different models with the same names, perhaps hoping to capitalize on the name recognition of their older machines. As a result, identifying exactly which model a Kaypro is often requires an inspection of their hardware configuration. All of the computers listed below are of the portable type unless otherwise noted. * 1982 **''Kaycomp II'': The first Kaypro was a demonstrator model shown mainly to prospective dealers. It had the same case as future models, but was painted green, with two single sided floppy drives that were mounted vertically on opposite sides of the monitor like the Osborne 1, its intended competition, and a 9-inch internal monitor instead of the Osborne's 5-inch display. **''Kaypro II'': The first commercially released Kaypro was an immediate success, dominating its competition, the Osborne 1 microcomputer. Originally marketed as Kaycomp II, the floppy drives were now mounted horizontally to the right of the screen. * 1983 **''Kaypro IV'': An evolution of the Kaypro II, the Kaypro IV had two DS/DD drives (390 KB) and came with WordStar in addition to the Perfect Suite of software. **''Kaypro 10'': The Kaypro 10 was one of the earliest computers to come standard with a
hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with mag ...
. It came with a 10 megabyte internal hard drive and a single DS/DD floppy drive. * 1984 **''Kaypro 4'': The Kaypro 4 was virtually identical to the IV, but featured half-height drives instead of full height drives, a 4 MHz clock speed and had basic graphics capabilities. It also had an internal 300-baud modem. **''Kaypro 2X'': The Kaypro 2X was similar to the Kaypro 4, but it lacked the built-in 300-baud modem that was available in the Kaypro 4. Kaypro 2X's were often sold in a bundle with the WordStar word processing software suite, spreadsheet and database software. The
impact printer In computing, a printer is a peripheral machine which makes a persistent representation of graphics or text, usually on paper. While most output is human-readable, bar code printers are an example of an expanded use for printers. Diffe ...
that was also included in the bundle was labeled as the "Kaypro Printer," but was actually a re-branded Juki 6100 daisywheel printer. **''Kaypro Robie'': The Kaypro Robie was the only CP/M based Kaypro to be non-portable. Designed as a desktop computer, it had the same motherboard as the Kaypro 4. It was also equipped with two 2.6 MB high density floppy drives and a 300-baud modem. The floppy drives were notorious for destroying disks as they literally scraped the media off of the disk substrate. The Robie was jet black, with the drives mounted above the screen, and the front panel angled upward. The Robie did not sell well, but it did make periodic cameo appearances on the ABC television series ''
Moonlighting Moonlighting may refer to: * Side job, a job taken in addition to one's primary employment Entertainment * ''Moonlighting'' (film), a 1982 drama film by Jerzy Skolimowski * ''Moonlighting'' (TV series), 1985–1989 American television series, s ...
'', as the desktop computer used by Bruce Willis's character David Addison. Due to its black color, the fact that it sat upright and looked like a helmet, and its handle mounted on the top, it was nicknamed "Darth Vader's lunchbox". * 1985 **''Kaypro "New" 2'': A scaled-down Kaypro 2X for the budget buyer, came with minimal software, and did not feature the internal modem. **''Kaypro 4+88'': A dual system computer, the 4+88 was equipped with both an 8088 processor and a Z80, and was capable of running both the MS-DOS and CP/M operating systems. It came with 256 KB of RAM for the MS-DOS operating system that could double as a
RAM disk Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch ...
for CP/M. **''Kaypro 16'': Very similar in appearance to the Kaypro 10, the Kaypro 16's main difference was that it had an 8088 processor and 256 KB of RAM and ran on the MS-DOS operating system instead of CP/M. The Kaypro 16/2e was a "Bundle" for a college computer. It came with DOS 3.3, two 5.25" 360 KB floppy drives and 768 KB RAM and bundled software to complete the college course. **''Kaypro 2000'': Kaypro's first and only laptop, it was an MS-DOS machine that ran on heavy lead-acid batteries—the same battery technology used in automobile batteries. Similar in basic appearance to a modern laptop, it featured a detachable keyboard, rugged brushed aluminum casing and a pop-up 3.5-inch floppy drive. In what seems to have been a recurring comparison, it has been called "Darth Vader's laptop". **''Kaypro PC'': Late to the PC market, the Kaypro PC was intended as a competitor to the IBM PC-XT desktop machine. Running at a faster clock speed than IBM's machine, it was available with a larger hard drive than that offered by IBM and an extensive software package. It featured the CPU on a
daughterboard In computing, an expansion card (also called an expansion board, adapter card, peripheral card or accessory card) is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an electrical connector, or expansion slot (also referred to as a bus s ...
on a
backplane A backplane (or "backplane system") is a group of electrical connectors in parallel with each other, so that each pin of each connector is linked to the same relative pin of all the other connectors, forming a computer bus. It is used as a backbo ...
, which, like the Zenith Data Systems' Z-DOS machines, promised upgradability. **''Kaypro 286i'': A 6 MHz 286 desktop, it was the first IBM PC/AT compatible, with dual 1.2 MB floppy drives standard and an extensive software package but no MS-DOS 3.0, which had not yet been released, requiring the user to purchase PC DOS 3.0 from IBM. * 1986 **''Kaypro 1'': The Kaypro 1 was the last CP/M model Kaypro introduced. In most ways, it was simply a Kaypro 2X with a smaller software package. It is distinctive from earlier Kaypro models because of its vertically oriented disk drives (although some Kaypro 10 models also had them). * 1987 **''Kaypro 386'': A 20 MHz 386 desktop, with an extensive software package. It featured a CPU on a circuit board that fit onto a backplane, just like the other expansion cards.


References


External links

{{Commons category, Kaypro
Kaypro II: pictures and details on oldcomputers.net

Kaypro II on Obsolete Computer Museum

Kaypro IV & 4

Kaypro Technical Manual
for all models, December, 1984 (5 MB PDF)

8-bit computers American companies established in 1981 American companies disestablished in 1992 Companies based in San Diego Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990 Companies that have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Computer companies established in 1981 Computer companies disestablished in 1992 Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Early microcomputers Personal computers Portable computers