Kaypro, TeleVideo, PET

From: Doug Spence <ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca>
Date: Sun Mar 30 05:35:50 1997

On Sun, 23 Mar 1997, Larry Anderson & Diane Hare wrote:

> The Kaypro is a pretty nice computer we have a Kaypro-10 at work
> (locked away in storage till who knows when). Good video bios, no
> hi-res like the Televideo but the terminal emulation was ok, (ADM 3A
> compatible, I think). Can run Worstar on it as well as dBase II also a
> handfull of simple video games and a drawing program (SCS draw). I
> might have the disks under my desk at work... ;-)

I think the power supply on my Kaypro II is anemic or something. The
display shudders when the drives are accessed, and scrolling in WordStar
causes the characters to not be fully drawn during the scrolling. Kind
of like a "black static" blotting out the green. That latter problem
might be normal, but the compressing screen on drive access thing looks a
little worrying.

How do I get the terminal emulation running? Do I need the boot disk for
this, or is there some mode I can turn this thing on into, to get it to
act as a terminal?

I'd like the same kind of info on the TeleVideo, BTW. Mine is a TPC-1,
the cool luggable one. I've got a copy of MDM803 that works on it, that
was on the disks I got from the former owner. I also started writing my
own terminal software for it (VERY basic, where I left it) and I still
hadn't figured out the serial port hardware. I had to run my program,
quit immediately, then run again or the system would hang. Basically, I
need manuals for the TeleVideo quite badly. I'd especially like to know
how to access the graphics... I have the TPCIDEMO program and a couple
of other graphics demos, and the graphics are really impressive for that
class of machine!

Oh, BTW, I opened the Kaypro up, and it looks like there has been a
modification made to it. The chip at U87 (markings were DM74LS390N) had
a couple of wires soldered to it. Pin 1 was pulled out out of the socket,
and a wire was soldered onto it connecting it to pin 6. Pin 9 was
removed entirely. Pins 12 and 15 were also connected with a wire.

Does anyone have any idea what this is? Is it a modification of some
kind, or was it a correction made at the factory?

> > Heh. This also sounds familiar. I have a CBM 2040 drive, sans fuse and
> > cap. I know at least one of the drive units works, as I got a directory
> > from a 1541 disk on my PET while holding a screwdriver in the fuse
> > socket. Don't do this at home. :)
>
> I would get a panel mount fuse-holder from Radio Shack and replace it
> (that is if the fuse-holder caps are incompatible), fortunately many of
> the PET/CBM fuses are not PCboard mounted.

I'll have to do SOMETHING. I mean, I grew up using the PET with
cassettes, but I'm not quite so patient now, and I'd kind of like to do
some stuff with the this machine.

Mind you, I'd like to also get more memory for it somehow. I'm still
running on 8K. Does anyone know if I can get some other chips to plonk
in the sockets to give me more memory?

> Larry Anderson

Doug Spence
ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca
Received on Sun Mar 30 1997 - 05:35:50 BST