--- title: Kaypro 2x categories: - Computers types: - Transportable origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1984' cpus: - Z80A params: name: Kaypro 2x image: /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_system_2.jpg company: /companies/kaypro company_name: Kaypro specs: - label: NAME value: Kaypro 2x - label: MANUFACTURER value: Kaypro - label: TYPE value: Transportable - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: '1984' - label: END OF PRODUCTION value: Unknown - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: None (M-BASIC and O-BASIC on diskette) - label: KEYBOARD value: Detachable, 72 key typewriter style keyboard with 18 programmable keys. - label: CPU value: Z80A - label: SPEED value: 4 MHz - label: RAM value: 64 KB - label: VRAM value: 2 KB - label: ROM value: Unknown - label: TEXT MODES value: 80 chars x 25 lines (ADM-3A compatible) - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: 160 x 100 text squares - label: COLORS value: built-in 9'' non-glare green phosphor screen - label: SOUND value: Beep only - label: SIZE / WEIGHT value: 45 (W) x 38.5 (D) x 21 (H) cm / 11.5 Kg - label: I/O PORTS value: 2 RS232c serial ports, 1 Centronics-type parallel port, keyboard, built-in 300-baud modem - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: 2 x 5.25'' DS/DD 400 KB half-size floppy drives - label: OS value: CP/M 2.2 - label: POWER SUPPLY value: Built-in switching power supply unit - label: PERIPHERALS value: 10 MB hard disc, battery pack/charger - label: PRICE value: $1595 (in 1986) tabs: - photos - emulators - links - docs photos: - title: LARGER VIEW subtitle: '' text: Notice that some Kaypro 2X models had a "2X" label on the front panel, between the two floppy drives. This version only have a "X" sticker on the back panel. image: /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_system_1.jpg - title: RUNNING SYSTEM subtitle: '' text: The Kaypro 2x is running ProfitPlan, a spreadsheet program from Chang Laboratories. image: /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_running_1.jpg - title: RIGHT SIDE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_rightside_1.jpg - title: KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP subtitle: '' text: The keyboard, made by Keytronic, was build sturdy. image: /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_keyboard_1.jpg - title: READY FOR TRAVELLING subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_closed_1.jpg - title: CARRYING BAG subtitle: '' text: The Kaypro 2x in its carrying bag. image: /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_bag_1.jpg - title: REAR SIDE subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** Power plug, switch and fuse\ **(2)** Reset button\ **(3)** The case was designed to take a fan but most of the Kaypro models didn't need it\ **(4)** Modem RJ11 plug\ **(5)** Parallel printer connector\ **(6)** The Kaypro 2x sticker\ **(7)** Serial port for data I/O\ **(8)** Second serial port for serial printer\ **(9)** Keyboard RJ11 plug\ **(10)** Brightness control knob Special thanks to **Thomas J. Casey** who donates us this computer image: /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_back_1.jpg - title: INSIDE subtitle: '' text: The main board is taken off. One can see the video circuitry and the switching power supply unit. image: /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_inside_1.jpg - title: MOTHERBOARD subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** 8 x Mostek 4564 chips hold the 64 KB of RAM\ **(2)** Memory controller chip labelled Kaypro\ **(3)** BIOS ROM chips\ **(4)** Mostek Z80A processor\ **(5)** Characters generator ROM\ **(6)** MOS display controller\ **(7)** MOS serial I/O controllers\ **(8)** Siemens floppy drives controller\ **(9)** Several empty sockets are probably used for an optional hard disk controller image: /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_mainboard_1.jpg - title: FLOPPY DRIVE subtitle: '' text: Slimline floppy drives came from an U.S. company called High Tech Peripherals, but they were probably made in Japan. image: /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_floppydrive_1.jpg - title: ARTHUR C. CLARKE subtitle: '' text: Arthur C. Clarke working with his Kaypro computer. image: /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_clarke_1.jpg emulators: - title: M.E.S.S. emulator url: http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/misc/mess.html platform: Windows text: also emulates the Kaypro 2x links: - title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com text: '' docs: - title: KAYPRO TECHNICAL MANUAL url: null cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/kaypro_technical_manual.jpg text: |- **KAYPRO TECHNICAL MANUAL**\ written by Kaypro  compiled/archived by Unknown\  type of document : Online reader **... READ THE ONLINE VERSION BY CLICKING BELOW :** comments: - author: Random Passerby date: Monday 9th September 2019 text: Glendon, the technical manual warns about using telephone wiring. The wire is too thin. So build a cable with at least 28-gage wire, no more than 12 feet long. - author: Glendon Gross (Tucson, Arizona, USA) date: Wednesday 9th November 2016 text: I just acquired a Kaypro 2X at the local used bookstore for $50. Although the keyboard was demonstrated to me in the store, I bought it without a keyboard cable and was wondering if anybody has one. Please email me at glendon144@gmail.com if you have one, thanks. I''ve tried making one from a handset cord without succiness. The machine does boot into CP/M. - author: Bryan Walker (USA) date: Sunday 23rd October 2011 text: |- This picture looks like what I always referred to as a "New 2" - a machine that looked like the old 2, only with half-height DSDD drives. There''s another 2X, only this one is gray and has both the modem and real-time clock. The one I currently have still keeps time, although the year went funny after 1999. - author: Bill Bathke II (us) date: Tuesday 13rd September 2011 text: I bought a 2X to modify, as I wasn''t sastisfied with the 10$ threw in a Seagate ST-225 (whose odd ''ratcheting'' noise as it started I still miss to this day!), some ''pigghybacked'' ttl chips on the decoder circuit to double the floppy storage, a pluPerfect Systems BIOS, and a MEG of ramdisk - don''t even want to think about what that cost$) - author: Steve Williams (Portland, Oregon) date: Monday 2nd August 2010 text: I too still have a fully functional Kaypro 2X with all the original books and 5.25 program floppies$ even a copy of ''Rembrandt'' which at the time was ''the'' graphics program for CP/M based computers to have. I even still have the Silver Reed daisy wheel typewriter along with the ''little back box'' to connected it to my Kaypro and the modified copy of Wordstar that l used to print out letter quality papers. It''s only unidirectional and very slow (even for back then), but most of my Professors refused to accept Dot Matrix print outs. Not only did that computer save my butt in college (the only thing worst than my spelling was my handwriting) but having the only computer on my floor with a modem made me very popular with the engineering and computer science majors. I''m a recording engineer and cut my teeth on lowly 4-tracks learning to do the most with what I had. My Kaypro, being my first computer, truly served the same function allowing me to make the most of the advances in computer technology that followed. Did I mention it still works as well as the day I bought it? - author: Bp103 date: Wednesday 30th September 2009 text: This computer looks interesting if i can find the schematics i just might built one (with modern parts mostly emulated). If you ever watch the show "King of the hill" this computer makes an appearance form time to time. Most noticeable in the y2k episode. - author: Paul Chaney (Muscoy CA USA) date: Thursday 10th May 2007 text: I had a Kaypro 2X. I learned wordstar and all of the mous-less keystroke menus by heart. I really miss the place marker, the quick menu, the block copy, and paste-special functions in Wordstar. I miss the SmartKey\` keyboard macro program. It was so simple and easy to use--like nothing else I have seen since. I devised a whole accounting system using DataStar, CalcStar and ReportStar--and I even devised workarounds for the bugs! I would just queue up a report to print, then go watch TV while my 22cps daisywheel printer churned it out. - author: Joey D Sartain (United States) date: Tuesday 28th December 2004 text: |- Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke communicated with each other during the writing of the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)". They connected to each others computers over the phgone lines, both using Kaypro computers, and it is said that almost all the writing, for the movie, was done entirely on the Kaypro compouters.\ Thanks... - author: Joey D Sartain (United States) date: Tuesday 28th December 2004 text: I still own a Kapro 2x, and to my best recollection, the Kaypro 2x is identical ro the Kaypro 4, with the exception of the internal modem included with the Kaypro 4. I still have all the original books that came with the computer, along with a Letter Quality Daisy Wheel printer. (noisy) related: - /museum/kaypro-1 - /museum/kaypro-10 - /museum/kaypro-4 - /museum/kaypro-ii - /museum/kaypro-iv - /museum/kaypro-robie oc_id: 954 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20221203191624/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=954 date: '2022-12-03' --- The Kaypro 2x was one of the last models Kaypro produced. Size and appearence were the same as the first [Kaypro II](/museum/kaypro-ii/), but Internal hardware was inspired by the [Kaypro 10](/museum/kaypro-10/). It came with a 4 MHz Z80A processor, dual slimline 400 KB floppy drives, a built-in 300 baud modem, two serial ports and a full set of Micropro software (WordStar, CalcStar, DataStar) It is said that **Arthur C. Clarke** worked in the movie version of "2010: Odyssey Two", a sequel of "2001", using a Kaypro 2x and its built-in modem for transfering texts from Sri Lanka, where he lived, to Los Angeles. --- **Roy Miller** specifies:\ I own two. One looks like the machine you have (colors of the original 2), and has the same equipment. The other doesn't have a modem, and came in the same color scheme as the 4, 10, and 16.\ The one in the older color scheme has a sticker with an "X" on it pasted just after the "2" on the back. The dark grey one doesn't have that. It seems clear that they used the older 2 cases as well as newer cases. --- More info about the internal modem by **David C. Oshel**:\ The internal modem didn't work with the software Kaypro provided, so you had to use a Hayes Smartmodem attached to a serial i/o port. The internal modem chip had a defect: One of its pinouts went low when the specs said it went high.\ We put an oscilloscope on the pup and saw this for ourselves on the Beacon Microcenter (Ames, Iowa) workbench in 1983. I was able to write a driver that made it work, but nobody cared.