Kaypro History
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Email: kpp@yoy.org

 

Here is a history of the entire Kaypro line of computer systems.

*Special thanks to Gregory Watson for permission to use his information.

Year Model Notes
Late 1982 Kaypro II

(a.k.a. Kaypro II ’83)

2 SS/DD full-height floppies

2.5 MHz Z-80

1 serial port

Bundled software from Perfect Software.

Middle 1983 Original Kaypro 10 1 DS/DD floppy drive

10 meg HD

4.0 MHz Z-80A CPU

2 serial ports

light pen port
Rudimentary graphics

Real time clock (Absent on all or some models)

Software from Perfect Software

dBase II

Middle 1983 Kaypro IV

(a.k.a. Kaypro IV '83)

Same as Kaypro II but…
With DS/DD full-height floppy drives

WordStar started being included in addition to the Perfect Software suite.

The same was true for the Kaypro II'83

Later versions included WordStar as well

Early 1984 Kaypro 4

(a.k.a. Kaypro 4 '84)

2 DS/DD half-height floppy drives

4.0 MHz Z-80A CPU

2 serial ports,
Internal 300 baud modem

Real-time clock

Rudimentary graphics.
Software from Micropro (WordStar, CalcStar, etc.)

Late 1984 Kaypro 2

(a.k.a. Kaypro 2 '83)

2 SS/DD half-height floppy drives,

4.0 MHz Z-80A

2 serial ports

Rudimentary graphics.

Software was from Micropro (WordStar, CalcStar, etc.)

Early 1984

(Although Robin reports that the 2X was actually out in 1980. Thanks Robin!)

Kaypro 2X Similar to older Kaypro IV, or Kaypro 2
2 DS/DD half-height drives

4.0 MHz Z-80A

2 serial ports

Rudimentary graphics

Software from Micropro (WordStar, CalcStar, etc.)

Late 1984? Kaypro Robie The first non-portable Kaypro machine

Black desktop

2 2.6 Megabyte floppy drives

Motherboard is basically the same as a Kaypro 4

300 baud modem

Rudimentary graphics

Robies were not big sellers

1985 All models Kaypro upgrades most of the machines to the "Universal ROM"

Boot disk are now interchangeable

1985 Kaypro 2X The Kaypro 4 '84 is renamed the Kaypro 2X (sometimes known as 2X MTC).

Kaypro 2X, Kaypro 2 '84, and Kaypro 4'84 are dropped

Early 1985? The "New" Kaypro 2 The "New 2" is introduced

Basically an old 2X motherboard

1 DS/DD floppy drive

Comes with only CP/M and WordStar for software

Early 1985 Kaypro II' 83 Kaypro starts producing the Kaypro II' 83 again

Comes with Perfect software (as opposed to Micropro software)

1985 Kaypro 4X

Kaypro 12X

Kaypro 4X is a Robie but in a standard portable case

Kaypro 12X is a Kaypro 10 but with a Robie floppy drive

(4X or a 12X may never have been produced)

1986 Kaypro 1 Equivalent to the old Kaypro 2X

2 DS/DD floppies

4.0 MHz Z-80A

2 serial ports, etc.
Floppies are vertical as opposed to horizontal

Came with CP/M and Perfect Writer for software

1986 Kaypro 1, Kaypro 2X MTC, Kaypro 10, Robie After this. Kaypro produced just the 1, 2X MTC, 10 and
Robie

This continued until they got out of the CP/M machines

Ongoing evolution Variations After this, there were a few variations on some machines
One variation was the Kaypro 4+88, which had a SWP (?) co-processor board with an 8088, 256K of memory (which could be configured as a RAM disk under CP/M), and could run some MSDOS software.
Unknown Kaypro V The Kaypro V was rumored to exist.

It was supposed to be a precursor to the Kaypro 10, but with a 5 Meg HD and a single-sided floppy

 

Please send any corrections to this list to me.   Thanks!