website/content/museum/kaypro-2x.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Kaypro 2x	Computers	Transportable	U.S.A.	1984	Z80A	name image company company_name specs tabs photos emulators links docs comments related oc_id source Kaypro 2x /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_system_2.jpg /companies/kaypro Kaypro label value NAME Kaypro 2x label value MANUFACTURER Kaypro label value TYPE Transportable label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1984 label value END OF PRODUCTION Unknown label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None (M-BASIC and O-BASIC on diskette) label value KEYBOARD Detachable, 72 key typewriter style keyboard with 18 programmable keys. label value CPU Z80A label value SPEED 4 MHz label value RAM 64 KB label value VRAM 2 KB label value ROM Unknown label value TEXT MODES 80 chars x 25 lines (ADM-3A compatible) label value GRAPHIC MODES 160 x 100 text squares label value COLORS built-in 9'' non-glare green phosphor screen label value SOUND Beep only label value SIZE / WEIGHT 45 (W) x 38.5 (D) x 21 (H) cm / 11.5 Kg label value I/O PORTS 2 RS232c serial ports, 1 Centronics-type parallel port, keyboard, built-in 300-baud modem label value BUILT IN MEDIA 2 x 5.25'' DS/DD 400 KB half-size floppy drives label value OS CP/M 2.2 label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in switching power supply unit label value PERIPHERALS 10 MB hard disc, battery pack/charger label value PRICE $1595 (in 1986) photos emulators links docs title subtitle text image LARGER VIEW 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. /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_system_1.jpg title subtitle text image RUNNING SYSTEM The Kaypro 2x is running ProfitPlan, a spreadsheet program from Chang Laboratories. /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_running_1.jpg title subtitle text image RIGHT SIDE /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_rightside_1.jpg title subtitle text image KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP The keyboard, made by Keytronic, was build sturdy. /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_keyboard_1.jpg title subtitle text image READY FOR TRAVELLING /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_closed_1.jpg title subtitle text image CARRYING BAG The Kaypro 2x in its carrying bag. /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_bag_1.jpg title subtitle text image REAR SIDE **(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 /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_back_1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE The main board is taken off. One can see the video circuitry and the switching power supply unit. /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_inside_1.jpg title subtitle text image MOTHERBOARD **(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 /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_mainboard_1.jpg title subtitle text image FLOPPY DRIVE Slimline floppy drives came from an U.S. company called High Tech Peripherals, but they were probably made in Japan. /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_floppydrive_1.jpg title subtitle text image ARTHUR C. CLARKE Arthur C. Clarke working with his Kaypro computer. /media/museum/photos/kaypro_iix_clarke_1.jpg title url platform text M.E.S.S. emulator http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/misc/mess.html Windows also emulates the Kaypro 2x title url text Web Wiz CAPTCHA http://www.webwizcaptcha.com title url cover text KAYPRO TECHNICAL MANUAL null /media/museum/docs/couvs/kaypro_technical_manual.jpg **KAYPRO TECHNICAL MANUAL**\ written by Kaypro  compiled/archived by Unknown\  type of document : Online reader **... READ THE ONLINE VERSION BY CLICKING BELOW :** author date text Random Passerby Monday 9th September 2019 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 date text Glendon Gross (Tucson, Arizona, USA) Wednesday 9th November 2016 I just acquired a Kaypro 2X at the local used bookstore for $50. Although the keyboard was demonstrated to me in the store, I bought it without a keyboard cable and was wondering if anybody has one. Please email me at glendon144@gmail.com if you have one, thanks. I''ve tried making one from a handset cord without succiness. The machine does boot into CP/M. author date text Bryan Walker (USA) Sunday 23rd October 2011 This picture looks like what I always referred to as a "New 2" - a machine that looked like the old 2, only with half-height DSDD drives. There''s another 2X, only this one is gray and has both the modem and real-time clock. The one I currently have still keeps time, although the year went funny after 1999. author date text Bill Bathke II (us) Tuesday 13rd September 2011 I bought a 2X to modify, as I wasn''t sastisfied with the 10$ 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$) author date text Steve Williams (Portland, Oregon) Monday 2nd August 2010 I too still have a fully functional Kaypro 2X with all the original books and 5.25 program floppies$ 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 date text Bp103 Wednesday 30th September 2009 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 date text Paul Chaney (Muscoy CA USA) Thursday 10th May 2007 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 date text Joey D Sartain (United States) Tuesday 28th December 2004 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 date text Joey D Sartain (United States) Tuesday 28th December 2004 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) /museum/kaypro-1 /museum/kaypro-10 /museum/kaypro-4 /museum/kaypro-ii /museum/kaypro-iv /museum/kaypro-robie 954 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20221203191624/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=954 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, but Internal hardware was inspired by the 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.

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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.

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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.