- VCF South West - June 14 - 16, Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas
- VCF West - Aug 2 - 3, Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA
- VCF Midwest - Sept 7 - 8 2024, Schaumburg, IL
- VCF SoCal - Mid February 2025, Location TBD, Southern CA
- VCF East - April 2025, Infoage Museum, Wall NJ
-
Please review our updated Terms and Rules here
WinWorld Safe? Need Kaypro 2000+ DOS 3.21
- Thread starter Fezzler
- Start date
SpidersWeb
Veteran Member
I just went there and downloaded it.
RAR archive with two disk images in it. BASIC+DIAGS, and BOOT. Both 360KB.
Didn't get any fake download links or "Install this downloader program which contains 50 malware features built in".
zombienerd
Veteran Member
I have used a lot of images from Winworldpc. Have never had one flag under anti-virus, and every one I've installed has worked flawlessly. They even provide license keys for properly abandoned software.
SomeGuy
Veteran Member
It's a sad state of affairs on the web when getting downloaders/malware is the expected behavior. Yet people put up with it.
zombienerd
Veteran Member
Is there an option not to?
Not much can be done, as far as I know. The best anti-malware resides between the chair and the computer, imo, but even that can fail on the best of us.Boy, it has been a few years since I downloaded vintage disk images and created floppies.
Questions one. Even though the images are for a 360k disk, can I create 720k disk?
If yes, I recall there is a special software application to handle. Any tips?
Since the image is for 360k disks, I suspect this is not the 3.21 specifically for the Kaypro 2000 Plus. I'm sure it will work and boot if 720k disks can be made, but probably missing any K2000+ utilities.
Man, I have looked for years for the Kaypro 2000 Plus ("plus is important") OS disks. Not only can't I find the images, I have never come across anyone who owns a K2k+ in their personal collection or a museum. It must have not sold many units.
Questions one. Even though the images are for a 360k disk, can I create 720k disk?
If yes, I recall there is a special software application to handle. Any tips?
Since the image is for 360k disks, I suspect this is not the 3.21 specifically for the Kaypro 2000 Plus. I'm sure it will work and boot if 720k disks can be made, but probably missing any K2000+ utilities.
Man, I have looked for years for the Kaypro 2000 Plus ("plus is important") OS disks. Not only can't I find the images, I have never come across anyone who owns a K2k+ in their personal collection or a museum. It must have not sold many units.
SomeGuy
Veteran Member
WinImage can resize between MS/PC-DOS formatted 360k, 720k, 1.2mb, and 1.44mb disk images. They will remain bootable as long as the version of DOS supports that format.
I believe the 3.21 disks are intended for one of the desktop models. The only Kaypro 2000 specific version I know of out there is MS-DOS 2.11, but that is for the original 2000, not the Kaypro 2000+.
I believe the 3.21 disks are intended for one of the desktop models. The only Kaypro 2000 specific version I know of out there is MS-DOS 2.11, but that is for the original 2000, not the Kaypro 2000+.
They must have sold only a handful of the Kaypro 2000 Plus models as it is very difficult to find any information on it, which is saying something in this day and age. I have found a few general magazine reviews, but that is it.
I have the User's Guide and it references some special utilities that came with the DOS. KSYNC.COM; KBOOT.COM; COLOROFF.COM; LCD.COM; CGA.COM; CHATTR; D; KCOPY; and LOCATE.
Great news, I hope. I solved my power issue with the K2K Plus and was able to boot with a Kaypro 2000 MS-DOS 2.11 disk that has many if not all the special utilities on it. I'm going to guess/hope they are the same. I have a copy of MS-DOS 3.21 so hopefully I can make a new 3.21 boot disk, copy the Kaypro utilities over and this baby is back in action!
These are so rare. I never see them. Wonder what it's value is to someone interested in it?
Chuck(G)
25k Member
There's the rub. The 2K had a terrible display and was a bit awkward. The 2K+ attempted to improve on a lackluster reception by including an EGA-compatible display. That was pretty interesting for a laptop--but it was too little too late. Kaypro filed Chapter 11 in 1990. See Jeanne Albrecht's column in PC Magazine for a good summary of the situation.
Another aspect of trying to make a PC in 1988 was the DRAM shortage. This one hit Kaypro hard and delayed shipments of the 2K Plus. James Martin wrote a good summary of Kaypro's problems in 1988 in this issue of Computerworld. "Too many Kays and not enough pros."
Sadly, the late 1980s were a time of great carnage in the personal computer business. Lots of competitors who were once golden either dropped out, were acquired or simply concentrated on other things.
Last edited: