Kaypro 10

From: Jim <DD950_at_prodigy.net>
Date: Wed Sep 8 03:21:41 1999

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Maslin <donm_at_cts.com>
>As you say, things were changing fast. The 2X that I have came with both
>modem and Real Time Clock. IIRC, the RTC was a feature of the 10/84 also.
>
> - don


Yes, your 2X was (probably) originally a KayPro 4! The KayPro 4, now I
remember, originally added a modem and clock and more software (dBaseII I
think) to my cheaper original 2X. There was also a big thing being made
about the "inverse video" in 1984, which made it easier to read the WordStar
menus. I think the -84's all came with the new 360K double sided disc
drives. The -83 mostly had the 180K single sided drives.

Also, the 1984's were the first to come with WordStar and the other MicroPro
software bundled. In 1983, they shipped with PerfectWriter or something
like that. In July of 1984 I think I remember KayPro offered a KayPro 2,
with 2 double sided 360K disc drives and PerfectWriter software at about
$1200.

Then the 2x, which added the Micropro software bundle (WordStar, DataStar,
CalcStar, the graphics or inverse video display capabilities all for a song
at about $1500. ( The IBM PC was about $2500 then and you needed a display
and even had to purchase PC-Dos to go with it! KayPro was the first to
bundle operating systems and software with any machines I think. Well, the
Macintosh was out but it seemed to have severe memory shortage to me in
1984.)

After the KayPro 2x in the line came the Kaypro 4-84 with the 300 Bd modem
and dBaseII and something called a real time clock. That cost you close to
$2000 and I decided to leave it. For $500 I would type in my own dates until
I upgraded in 1993. I feel asleep once reading CompuServe at 300 Bd and
decided to let the modem go also. (I had to buy a Hayes 300 a year later
for $250 though.)

Next came the KayPro 10 with a 10 Mb hard drive that I couldn't fathom
anybody needing in 1984. Besides, a Kaypro 10 set you back almost $2800,
most of that increase was for that hard drive.

That line quickly was changed as the 4 became the 2x, and the 2x became the
2 again and they added a Kaypro 1 which only had one disk drive and a small
amount of software. They all were really the same machine as far as I could
tell. The differences only being the number of disk drives and the hard
drive in the -10.

I think the KayPro's were attractive to people like me as they came with all
the operating software you needed. It was all in one box that was real easy
to set up, and it worked. The price seemed cheap compared to what you got
with the IBM's and Apples.

At the time, if you bought an IBM or compatable, your second purchase was
the operating system, MS or PC DOS, and then WordStar for about $200.

I think KayPro's next machine was the 16, which was an IBM PC clone, in
about the middle of 1985.

I moved to Prescott, Arizona in 1988 and was surprised to see that there
were still KayPro dealers selling the cp/m KayPro's in small town America.
They had dissapeared off the shelves in Los Angeles long before then.

It is interesting to see how much you can remember about these things. I
might be wrong on some of it and would be interested in your corrections.

Regards,

Jim,

Any so-called material thing that you want is merely a symbol: you want it
not for itself, but because it will content your spirit for the
moment. --Mark Twain
Received on Wed Sep 08 1999 - 03:21:41 BST