--> Go to Part 1 : Versions and Revisions
Kaypro Information
Last revision of this page: January 24, 2025
My Personal Kaypro Contacts
The following job titles refer to the time back then at Kaypro. A lot of information on my Kaypro site comes directly from this people. Especially my video conferences with David Kay were simply wonderful. I really enjoyed talking with him about the days back then.
- David A. Kay
-
- President of Kaypro Corporation
- I had three video conferences with him. (09/06/2022, 09/15/2022, 09/19/2022)
- Steve Fabian
-
- Systems Analyst, Oct 1982 – Jun 1985
- Rick Gordon
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- Manager of Networking Products & Services, Jun 1982 – Aug 1989
- Elaine Montemarano
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- Director of Sales, 1985 - 1988
Technical Informations
Manuals
I've been looking for part numbers A and B since 2021, but have had no success so far.
- Kaypro Technical Manual (1484-C, 1984)
- Kaypro Technical Manual (1484-D, 1984)
- Kaypro Technical Manual (1484-E, 1985)
- Kaypro Technical Manual (1484-F, 1985)
- Kaypro II Dealer Reference Guide, 1982
Bits and Pieces
- Frank Rahman's Kaypro Journal: Bits and Pieces
Schematic and Theory of Operation
- Kaypro II, Schematic, Micro C, 23.05.1983
Scan of the original with a RICOH MP CW2201, minimally processed (TIFF, 17 MByte, ~10,000 x 7,000 px, 300 dpi, ~33 x 23 inch) - Kaypro II, Schematic, NLS, CPU & Memory (81-110/111)
- Kaypro II, Mod 2.5 to 4 or 5 MHz
- Kaypro II/4 Theory of Operation, Micro C, 1983
- Kaypro II/4, Schematic, NLS, CPU & Memory (81-240/241)
- Kaypro 84, Theory of Operation, Micro C, 1984
- Kaypro 84, Schematic, Micro C, 1984
- Kaypro 10, Theory of Operation, Micro C, 1984
- Kaypro 10, Schematic, NLS, 1982
User's Guide and Others
- Kaypro II User's Guide, 1982
- Kaypro 10 User's Guide, 1983
- Kaypro 10 User's Guide, 1984
- Kaypro Robie User's Guide, 1984
- Kaypro User's Guide Addendum, Mar 1984
- Kaypro User's Guide Addendum, Sep 1984
- Kaypro KayNet User's Guide, 1983
- Kaypro Introduction to Software, 1984
- Kaypro Software Bulletin, 1983
- Kaypro Harness [k6whp, VCF], 2022 (Use at your own risk!)
- Kaypro Do-It-Yourself Drive Swap, Profiles, 06/1986
Field Service Bulletin
- Early Kaypro 10, Field Upgrade 81-303, FSB ??? (TurboROM manual, H, Advent Products)
- Early Kaypro II, Field Upgrade 81-198, FSB 004 (Drive fix mod)
Brochures
- Kaypro II (1983)
- Kaypro 4 (1983)
- Kaypro 10 (pre, 1983)
- Kaypro 10 (1983)
- Kaypro (II, 4, 10, Kaynet) the complete business computer (1983)
Magazines
- BYTE Magazine
- Kaypro II, 1983-09 (horiz. drives)
- Kaypro 10, 1984-05
- Creative Computing
- Computer & Electronics (formerly Popular Electronics)
- Kaypro II, 1983-06 (vert. drives)
- Kaypro 4 ('83) PLUS 88, 1984-03
- InfoWorld
- Kaypro II, Review, 18.10.1982, p.59 (vert. drives)
- Kaypro 10, Review, 31.10.1983, p.109
- Kaypro 2X, Review, 12.11.1984, p.51
- Micro Cornucopia
- Micro Cornucopia Feb83 #10 - The Kaypro Column (1st Column)
- Micro Cornucopia Apr83 #11 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Jun83 #12 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Aug83 #13 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Oct83 #14 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Dec83 #15 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Apr84 #16 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Apr84 #17 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Jun84 #18 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Aug84 #19 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Oct84 #20 - The Kaypro Column (Robie)
- Micro Cornucopia Dec84 #21 - The Kaypro Column (all Kaypro II Mods)
- Micro Cornucopia Feb85 #22 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Apr85 #23 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Jun85 #24 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Aug85 #25 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Oct85 #26 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Dec85 #27 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Feb86 #28 - The Kaypro Column
- Micro Cornucopia Apr86 #29 - The Kaypro Column (Kaypro Bids Farewell To CP/M
- Micro Cornucopia (#11): Kaypro II Drive Fix (MOD).
- Micro Cornucopia (#12): Speedings Things up (MOD).
- Micro Cornucopia (#15): Turning a Kaypro II into a Kaypro 4 (MOD).
- Micro Cornucopia (#21): All Kaypro II Modifications.
- Micro Cornucopia (#33): 7 MHz on an 83 Kaypro (MOD).
- Microcomputing
- Kaycomp II, 1982-09, p.40 (vert. drives)
- Kaypro II - The Perfect Traveling Companion, 1982-12, p.66 (vert. drives)
- Popular Computing
- Practical Computing
- The Computer Journal (TCJ)
- The Computer Journal (#60): Turning a Kaypro II into a Kaypro 4 (MOD).
- The Computer Journal (#61): Upgrading a Kaypro II or 4 from 2.5 MHz to 5 MHz (MOD).
- The Computer Journal (#66): Advent Personality Decoder Part 1
- The Computer Journal (#69): Advent Personality Decoder Part 2
- The Computer Journal (#71): Kaypro Support
- The Computer Journal (#74): Composite Video Part 1
- The Computer Journal (#74): Composite Video Part 2
- Historically Brewed
- Erroll Foldes: Kaypro Corner (only), #4, #5, #6, Classic Computing: The Complete Historically Brewed, by David Greelish, ISBN-13 978-0-615-53812-9
Books and Others
- Kathy Chin: Kaypro Parts Mystery, 10/1984 (DE, TXT)
- Kathy Chin: Kaypro Parts Mystery, 10/1984 (EN, PDF)
- Kathy Chin: First loss for boom company, 12/1984 (DE, TXT)
- Kathy Chin: First loss for boom company, 12/1984 (EN, PDF)
- Jeannette DeWyze: The Story behind Kaypro, 01/1984 (DE, TXT)
- Jeannette DeWyze: The Story behind Kaypro, 01/1984 (EN, PDF)
- John Gantz: Kaypro Hunkers down, 08/1984 (DE, TXT)
- John Gantz: Kaypro Hunkers down, 08/1984 (EN, PDF)
- John Gantz: Kaypro faces uphill battle to continue as pc player, 10/1988 (DE, TXT)
- John Gantz: Kaypro faces uphill battle to continue as pc player, 10/1988 (EN, PDF)
- Daniel Janal, Kathy Chin: Kaypro confident it will ride out the storm, 12/1982 (DE, TXT)
- Daniel Janal, Kathy Chin: Kaypro confident it will ride out the storm, 12/1983 (EN, PDF)
- Julie Pitta: Technology ride swamped by reality, 06/1990 (DE, TXT)
- Julie Pitta: Technology ride swamped by reality, 06/1990 (EN, PDF)
- David H. Rothman: The Silicon Jungle, Ballantine Books, 1985 (HTML)
- David H. Rothman: The Silicon Jungle, Ballantine Books, 1985 (TXT)
- David H. Rothman: The Silicon Jungle, Ballantine Books, 1985 (MD)
- David H. Rothman: The Silicon Jungle, Ballantine Books, 1985 (MOBI)
- Net Weiner: Kaypro, the company behind the computer, The Boston Kugel, 03/1984 (EN, PDF)
- Net Weiner: Kaypro, the company behind the computer, The Boston Kugel, 03/1984 (DE, TXT) ... to do ...
- Michael F. Wolff: Riding the biggest wave, IEEE Spectrum, vol. 21, no. 12, pp. 66-71, Dec. 1984, (or https://sci-hub.se/10.1109/MSPEC.1984.6370378)
Lawsuits
- 884 F.2d 1222: George FRANKLIN, ..., v. KAYPRO CORPORATION ...
Advent TurboROM - Plu*Perfect
- Manual V3.4 (1986): Kaypro II Mods, see A1 to C1.
- Text excerpt from: Manual Appendix H (1986)
KayPLUS ROM - MICROCode
- KayPLUS-83 (Kaypro II, 2-83, 4-83)
-> Changing a KII 2K ROM to 8K, see appendix c, page 68 - KayPLUS-84 (Kaypro 10, 2-84, 4-84)
SWP Microcomputer Products
- CO-POWER-88 Board for various computers.
- CO-POWER-88 Board for the Kaypro 2X, 2/84, 4/84 and 10; all with Universal Board.
Newsgroups and Others
- CP/M Info
- Feb 1990: Marc Wilson: Kaypro 4 ('84) Hardware / about version and mainboards
- Jul 1982: Kaypro II (alias Kaycomp II) / and a 5" winchester option
- oak.oakland.edu/cpm/kaypro
- unkown: Kaypro-II U87 modification field service bulletin #4.
- unkown: Add a Hard Disk to a Kaypro "84" Floppy Computer.
- unkown: Additional hard disks for CP/M Kaypros with TurboROM.
- Jun 1983: Speeding things up.
- Oct 1983: Kaypro portable computers can be linked via the Kaynet.
- Apr 1986: Making MOVCPM work on a Kaypro 1.
- Jun 1987: Uncovering some secrets of D.COM.
- Jul 1987: A look at a wiring harness problem in early Kaypros.
- Jul 1987: Using COPY to create an initial command line.
- Aug 1987: Options on how to format a new disk
Other Information
- Frank Rahman: The man with the biggest Kaypro collection: Kaypro Journal. He has close to 80 Kaypros (Nov 2024).
- Herb Thompson: Half-hight minifloppy stores 3.3M bytes.
- Stephen Stone: Life and times of Kaypro computers. VCF West 1.0, 1997 (MP3)
- BYTE 88-10: Ultra-Low-Cost Network - ULCnet; used by Kaynet.
- Profiles 88-01: CRT - Adjusting the Video Board.
- Youtube: Discharging the CRT in a compact Macintosh. A lot of safety advice is given in this video! Warning! If in doubt keep your fingers off!
- Herb Thompson: Half-hight minifloppy stores 3.3M bytes.
- ROMs from Micro Cornucopia: An overview.
- WD1002-05/HDO Winchester/Floppy Disk Controller
- Western Digital FD 179X-02 Floppy Disk Controller Family
- Unknown: Kaypro 4/84 RTC parts list for the UNIVERSAL BOARDs
PCBs - Gerber files
- Douglas Miller: Kaypro 10 ('83) Interface Board (KiCad & Gerber files)
- Thomas Brase: Plus-4 Decoder for Kaypro II & Kaypro 4 (version 1.1)
- My Gerber files ...
- ... or order directly from OSH Park.
Monitor, Character & Controller ROM
Kaypro II
81-110
- ROM - U47, 81-149, 2716, 2K
- ROM - U47, 81-149A, 2716, 2K (not verified)
- ROM - U47, 81-149B, 2716, 2K
- ROM - U47, 81-149C, 2716, 2K
- ROM - SOURCE CODE
- CHAR - U43, 81-146, 2716, 2K
- CHAR - U43, 81-146A, 2716, 2K
Kaypro II & 4('83)
81-240
Kaypro 10('83)
81-180
- ROM 1.9 - U42, 81-188E, 2732, 4K
- CHAR - U26, 81-187, 2732, 4K
- ROM 1.9e - U42, 81-302B, 2732, 4K
- ROM 1.9E - U42, 81-302C, 2732, 4K
- ROM 1.9E - SOURCE CODE
- ROM 1.9E(F) - U42, 81-277A, 2732, 4K
- CHAR - U26, 81-278A, 2732, 4K (European)
- CHAR - U26, SWE/FIN, 2732, 4K (Swedish, Finnish)
Universal Boards & Kaypro 10('84)
81-184, 81-470
- ROM 2.01 - U34, 81-478A, 2764, 8K
- ROM 2.02 - U34, 81-478B, 2764, 8K
- ROM 2.03 - U34, 81-478C, 2764, 8K
- CHAR - U9 , 81-235, 2732, 4K
Kaypro 4X
81-184
- ROM - U34, 81-326E, 2764, 8K
Kaypro 12X
81-184?
- You have it? I am looking for ...
SWP Co-Power-88 Board
- ROM - U??, 81-356, 2732, 4K
BIOS Source
- All Kaypro source code I have.
Micro Cornucopia
ROMs from Micro Cornucopia: An overview by me and an example by Lary Kraemer.
- CHAR GREEK - 2716, 2K
- PRO-8+ v3.3 - 2732, 4K
- 8" Pre-84 v3.3 - 2732, 4K (8" interface)
- PRO-884 - 2764, 8K
- PRO-884 MAX, v1.0 - 2764, 8K
- SuperMAX v2.7 - 2764, 8K
- PRO-8 Instruction Manual (v1), 1984 (55 MByte, source: ldkraemer, VCF)
- PRO-8 Instruction Manual (v2), 1985 (69 MByte, source: ldkraemer, VCF)
Advent - PLU*PERFECT
- TurboROM v3.4 - with '83 and '84 ROM's
MICROCode - KayPLUS
- KayPLUS-83 & 84 (v0.1c, v0.1e / v1.2a)
Highland Microkit
- RoadRunner ROM v1.5 - 2732, 4K, by Howard Saltzman
Keyboard Controller
Read out with a Galep5:
Downloads 
- Don Maslin: Software & CP/M
- Don Maslin: ROMs
- www.mrynet.com: Software & CP/M
My Series About the KAYPRO
--> Go to Part 1 : Versions
--> Go to Part 2 : Hardware
--> Go to Part 3 : 8K EPROM Modification
--> Go to Part 4 : Formatting a Hard Disk
--> Go to Part 5 : USER areas
--> Go to Part 6 : MASMENU - Master Menu
--> Go to Part 7 : Terminal
--> Go to Part 8 : KayPLUS ROM
--> Go to Part 9 : Advent TurboROM
--> Go to Part 10: Multicopy Plu*Perfect
--> Go to Part 11: The Kay Family & Company
--> Go to Part 12: Kaypro Design Views
--> Go to Part 13: Micro Cornucopia
--> Go to Part 14: Repairing a Kaypro II
--> Go to Part 15: Kaypro Collections
--> Go to Part 16: Kaypro General
--> Go to Part 17: Kaypro Robie
--> Go to Part 18: MFM-Emulators
--> Go to Part 19: Roadrunner ROM
--> Go to Part 20: Software
--> Go to Part 21: FAQ
--> Go to Part 22: Kaypro Virtual
--> Go to Part 23: Formatting a Floppy Disk
--> Go to Part 24: ROM, EPROM
--> Go to Part 25: Kaycomp