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Kaypro II vs. Kaypro 2

smp

smp

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
1,726
Location
Bedford, NH, USA
Hello all,

My wife found a Kaypro 2 with boot disk on the local Craigslist for a great price.

I already have a Kaypro 2 stored away - the last time I tried to boot it up, the drives did not react so I have that unit saved for later.

Here's my question: I have searched a good bit, but I cannot come up with a definitive description of what is the difference between a Kaypro II and a Kaypro 2. My system (and the newer one that I am about to acquire) has Kaypro 2 marked on the sides. I have seen auctions for systems that were marked Kaypro II.

Does anyone know what the difference between these two systems are?

Thanks in advance.

smp
 
The Kaypro II was the original mass-market offering in 1982. 5.25" full-height floppies. The 2 was a 1985 offering. WikiPedia article. Similar to the IV-versus-4 confusion. The Kaypro 1 was one of the last Z80-based systems released. I always thought that the marketing people were having a lot of fun confusing people.
 
Hi Chuck,

Thank you very much for the definitive statement. Greatly appreciated.

I *have* looked around a bit, and I've scoured the Wikipedia article that you referenced. That has been part of my frustration. That article starts out with the Kaypro II, consistent with what you've said. Then it moves on to the IV and the 10, with no mention of the 2 except they talk about the 2X later on in time, and I know that neither my first 2, nor my recent 2 is a 2X. BTW, I believe there is a typo in that article. It states, "The Kaypro 10 followed the Kaypro II..." I believe that should be "The Kaypro 10 followed the Kaypro IV..."

Anyway, thanks very much for weighing in with your information. It is quite valuable to me to know that my machines are likely vintage 1985, not 1982. FYI, my first Kaypro 2 has full height drives, horizontally mounted, and my latest Kaypro 2 has half height drives, horizontally mounted. This just adds to my confusion.

smp
 
The Kaypro II was named as such because it was very popular for any computer to be named II after the Apple ][ craze.

IIRC, there was a Kaypro prior to the II. I'm not sure they ever sold any, though.
 
I can't think of the other examples, but it seems to me that there were other companies calling their first computer, or peripherals, II around that time.
 
SMP,
The Kaypro II was 2 MHZ, although the folks in Bend, Oregon at Micro Cornucopia had an upgrade for 4 MHZ and 5 MHZ. I've upgraded my Kaypro II to 4 MHZ clock
and a Faster Z80 CPU.

The Kaypro 2 is stock at 4 MHZ. I don't know of any other differences on the Motherboard, although the ROM, and associated Circuits might be somewhat different.

Larry
 
Hi idk,

Thanks very much for this info! I'm really happy to hear that.

I'll be experimenting a bit, but so far, all my Kaypro disks that I have saved with my original machine are working. I have a small bunch of new blank disks that came with my new machine, so I'll be learning (again) how to make copies. Then I'll figure out some things to put the system through its paces. It'll be interesting to see what performance differences are apparent between this system and my 2 MHz IMSAI with Compupro Z-80 CPU and Northstar double density disk controller.

smp
 
Be sure to check the documentation on bitsavers--there's quite a bit of detail on it. For example, the schematic is used for the II and the 4 and is labeled as such.
 
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