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Kaypro I

B

baviles13

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
288
Location
NJ
Hi all,

I am selling my Kaypro I system, with CP/M on a 2.5 MHz Z80 CPU, with 64 Kb of ram, two disk drive & software.
Kaypro 1 CP/M, User's guide & Perfect Writer, User guide for Wordstar/Mailmerge, and Wordstar Primer.
Don't know how much it worth, check eBay but they only have Kaypro 2.

Bobby
 

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I have been looking around and it seems that the Kaypro I is a very rare item, as this is an original Kaypro 1. That being said would the value be worth $500 dollars? If anyone knows the value please get back to me.

Thank you
Bobby
 
Keep in mind that the I came after the II, and the II is the one everyone remembers.

I don't want to spoil your sale but I think it's worth less than a II. In fact I think you're off by a factor of ten. Maybe in the state of completion of yours, it could fetch as much as $100. But that's just my opinion based on what I think I could sell it for.
 
FYI,
I purchased 2 "Kaypro 1" systems. Both of these had the latest boards (keyboard and modem connectors side by side, but modem parts not populated on either one.
One had the HD Kaypro SASI parts installed...the other did not have them installed.

The first one was $50 with free shipping, but suffered some rusting and missing key caps, (but I had spare keycaps and the rust was mostly on the screw heads).

The 2nd one cost about $80 total and in pristine condition. (I turned this one into a Kaypro "1-10" by adding a WD1002-05 controller and HD and changed to an older Kaypro 10 rom and CP/M 2.2g since I was unable to run my Adventure game under CP/M 2.2u for some reason unsolved).

I added fans and filters to both and swapped out the power supply on the "K1-10" to an industrial Power-One supply that fit perfectly with more 12Vdc surge current capability to power up a full height HD, if ever needed again...NOT!

All 4 floppies needed cleaning, and lubrication on the head slide rails, but solved all issues after fixing the one keyboard issue.

In general, I like the floppy drive mounting in the vertical position better than the horizontal position of most Kaypro's and reminds me of my old 8" drive systems that mounted the floppies in the same orientation...something about it just seems better to me...more comfortable.

I'd say the K-1 would be a good candidate for adding a FreHD device to, since the interface port is on the board already and upgrading to an aftermarket ROM to allow also to keep and use the 2 floppy drives...additionally floppies in the vertical position free up space to the left and right of the narrower floppy chassis part to mount extra cards and devices as desired...(physically you could stuff a raspberry pi in there no problem...wouldn't it be nice to somehow get access to it's USB and ethernet connectors?...pi on the mind...)

Also note that the K-1 from the factory was at 4 Mhz...my CPU did not have the "A" printed on the device but it was running at 4 Mhz as per my frequency counter and 16 Mhz crystal on the board.

I'd say keep it and make it more useful than just 2 floppies, but if it has to go, then add Kaypro diskettes and manuals and you could probably get more for it especially if the paint is in very good condition.

Good Luck!
 
Hi,

I found this information on the internet is it correct that the Kaypro 1 was not released?

Thanks
Bobby


Kaypro I 1986

Kaypro: Competition Comes in Small(ish) Packages
Andrew Kay was an engineer and the founder of Non-Linear Systems, a digital instruments manufacturer. While there he invented the digital voltmeter – and later came up with the idea of a personal microcomputer to compete with the Osborne 1. The Kaypro Corporation was created to design and market these computers, and met with tremendous initial success.

Kaypro's first market-ready computer, in 1982, was called the Kaypro II.

(The Kaypro 1 never made it to market.)

Like the Osborne 1, it was a "portable (in name only) that ran CP/M on a 2.5 MHz Z80 CPU, with 64 Kb of RAM. It featured a fold-down keyboard and built-in monochrome CRT display and weighed 29 pounds. It also came bundled with a lot of expensive productivity software (Perfect Software's office suite of PerfectWriter, PerfectCalc, PerfectFiler, and PerfectSpeller) at a comparable $1,795 price.

One asset of the Kaypro, over the Osborne 1 which was available at about the same time, is the 9" built-in monitor, easily twice the size of the Osborne's.
 
No, that is not quite correct. There was no Kaypro computer released before the Kaypro II. However a Kaypro model named the "Kaypro 1" (the one you have) came afterwards.

Kaypro's numbering system was nucking futs.

Wikipedia has a good timeline: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaypro

It is hard to say if Kaypro was working on anything internally prior to the II, but it was quite common for hardware/software vendors to name their first release with some large number to make it look like they had been around for a long time.
 
baviles13 said:
Hi all,

I am selling my Kaypro I system, with CP/M on a 2.5 MHz Z80 CPU, with 64 Kb of ram, two disk drive & software.
Kaypro 1 CP/M, User's guide & Perfect Writer, User guide for Wordstar/Mailmerge, and Wordstar Primer.
Don't know how much it worth, check eBay but they only have Kaypro 2.

Bobby
Click to expand...

Any Chance you could have a top down photo of the keyboard please?
 
VERAULT said:
You could say that again! Probably the worst naming system used... EVER! Arent there 3 or 4 different kaypro Model 4's all significantly different?
Click to expand...

Yes, at least two.

Also two different Kaypro 10s.

Then there's the random system boards you can find in the later models. Some of them had the extra parts (RTC, modem, hard drive support) installed, some didn't.
 
The only Kaypros I would put at a higher value are the 10, a 16 (with a hard drive) and the Robie. The rest of them are IMO worth around $100 or less, depending on condition and completeness.
 
pic's of keyboard

pic's of keyboard

Hi,

Here they are, sorry for the wait.

Bobby
 

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