website/content/museum/kaypro-1.md

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

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Kaypro 1	Computers	Portable	U.S.A.	1986	Z80-A	name company company_name specs tabs photos links docs comments related oc_id source Kaypro 1 /companies/kaypro Kaypro label value NAME Kaypro 1 label value MANUFACTURER Kaypro label value TYPE Portable label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1986 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None label value KEYBOARD Detachable, 72 key typewriter style keyboard with 18 programmable keys. label value CPU Z80-A label value SPEED 4 MHz label value RAM 64 KB label value VRAM Unknown label value ROM Unknown label value TEXT MODES 80 char. x 25 lines label value GRAPHIC MODES Resolution unknown. Managed by Escape sequences label value COLORS built-in 9'' non-glare green phosphor screen label value SOUND Unknown label value SIZE / WEIGHT Unknown label value I/O PORTS 2 x RS232C serial ports, 1 x Centronics-type parallel port, 2 x RJ11 modem jacks ? label value BUILT IN MEDIA 2 x 5.25'' DS/DD floppy drives (390 KB per disk) label value OS CP/M label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in power supply unit label value PRICE Unknown photos links docs title subtitle text image BACK SIDE **(1)** Reset switch\ **(2)** Parallel printer connector\ **(3)** General purpose serial RS232 port\ **(4)** Second serial port dedicated to a serial printer\ **(5)** Internal 300 baud modem RJ11 jacks\ **(6)** Screen brightness knob null 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 Richard (US) Thursday 10th February 2011 I worked or Kaypro as a district manager when the Kaypro 1 was introduced. By the time the Kaypro 1 was introduced, CP/M was totally, absolutely, positively dead, and we as sales people tried until we were blue in the face to convince the Kays of that. As I recall, the Kaypro 1 sold for $999, with a dealer cost of $750 plus about $50 for shipping. Dealers had a love/hate relationship with the Kaypro. They loved them because Kaypro had a very loyal fan base, but they hated them because the margins were quite low, and there was little chance to make extra money on software and accessories because most Kaypros shipped feature-rich with the software already bundled. Dealers had no interest in the K1 because most had no one on staff who was familiar with CP/M by the time the K-1 came out, and in a market where the consumer expected a 20$ discount minimum, there just wasn''t anything in the deal for the dealer. The price point was fabulous for a machine for somewone who was heavy into word processing, and Word Star looked about the same in CP/M as it did in DOS, but the world was moving away from text based computing towards graphics-based computing, and neither CP/M nor DOS had much of a future left by 1986. /museum/kaypro-10 /museum/kaypro-2x /museum/kaypro-4 /museum/kaypro-ii /museum/kaypro-iv /museum/kaypro-robie 831 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230603122236/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=831 2023-06-03

The Kaypro 1 wasn't the first computer Kaypro launched, but quite one of the last ones.

When the company started getting strapped for money they changed the model name of some of their previous systems, modified the case design, added some minor hardware improvements and launched them as new models.

The Kaypro 1 was thus no more than a rebadged version of the 2X model which was itself a light evolution of a previous version called 4'84!

The main difference between the 1 and 2X versions was the floppy drives assembly, hozizontally mounted in the 2X, vertically in the model 1.

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From Robert:
I used to work for Kaypro back in the early and mid 80's at the headquarters in Solana Beach. Mr. Kay was a wonderful man to work for and the campus was beautiful.
I wish Kaypro had of become the Compaq of that time. I remember Compaq being a major worry back then. I wish I could connect with some of the beautiful people that I worked with at Kaypro.

We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.