• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Getting and using CP/M on a Kaypro II

KC9UDX

KC9UDX

Space Commander
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
Messages
7,468
Location
Lutenblag
I have a Kaypro II which came with two disks. One is a Kaypro Wordstar disk with funky track alignment, it is bootable. The other is a non bootable data disk.

I ordered two disks from an ebay seller. A CP/M system disk and a Wordstar disk. The Wordstar disk arrived and it's corrupt.

I know almost nothing about CP/M but I am very familiar with several other command line based operating systems.

What are my options for actually getting a system disk and where can I learn how to use it? I don't think I have enough parts to put together a PC with a 5.25 floppy. I can't find my Microsoft Softcard. I do have a working C128 and a 1571.

-Matt
 
You can get the 20K CP/M system on the internet. I have it and has made it work, with the help of people here on the forum. BUT, you will need to write a CBIOS for the Kaypro, if you don't have one. That's the rub. You have to know a lot of information regarding the hardware to write a CBIOS that will work with the CP/M system. It's not impossible, but can be a lot of work. I've been working on my 8080 machine for a couple years and am currently working on improving the error handling of the CBIOS and Cold Start Loader. Mike
 
The easiest methods are going to be: making your own with a PC, or having someone here mail you known-good disks. The problem with mailing is there's always a risk of erasure, though nowadays it's a fairly slim chance.

I'd make you a set of working disks, but we're in the middle of a move and my Kaypro stuff is packed!
 
I haven't checked, but isn't there a Kaypro II (not 2) image in the Don Maslin archive? It should be a simple matter to find someone with a PC and 5.25" drive to reconstruct it.
 
Waitaminute, didn't the OP say in another, unrelated thread that he had a Windows box that could boot MS-DOS and had a real floppy controller? If that's the case, you should be able to pull a 5.25" drive from the Kaypro and use it with your PC to create Kaypro boot disks. The Kaypro II is double-density so most PC controllers should be able to write the format.

You may require rejumpering on the Kaypro floppy drive. I don't remember if they used the "PC twist" or regular shunt numbering. And of course the last drive in the chain must have a terminator (jumper or resistor pack) installed.
 
I believe the C128 with 1571 can write a disk for the Kaypro II. Can anyone confirm this?

I can also connect the 1571 to an A2000 which currently has a 1541, but I don't think that would be useful in this case.
 
glitch said:
The 2 '84 with a somewhat different machine, but in any case the disks for the II are available in the Maslin archive too. You want SSDD (Single Sided, Double Density)
Click to expand...

Okay, here's a hole in my wetware--how did the Kaypro users' group when speaking (not writing) differentiate between the II and the 2? Did they, for instance, say "Kaypro eye-eye"?
 
glitch said:
Waitaminute, didn't the OP say in another, unrelated thread that he had a Windows box that could boot MS-DOS and had a real floppy controller? If that's the case, you should be able to pull a 5.25" drive from the Kaypro and use it with your PC to create Kaypro boot disks. The Kaypro II is double-density so most PC controllers should be able to write the format.

You may require rejumpering on the Kaypro floppy drive. I don't remember if they used the "PC twist" or regular shunt numbering. And of course the last drive in the chain must have a terminator (jumper or resistor pack) installed.
Click to expand...

The II, IIRC, did not use the twist in the cable. Plain old DS0 and DS1 for the floppies.
 
glitch said:
Waitaminute, didn't the OP say in another, unrelated thread that he had a Windows box that could boot MS-DOS and had a real floppy controller? If that's the case, you should be able to pull a 5.25" drive from the Kaypro and use it with your PC to create Kaypro boot disks. The Kaypro II is double-density so most PC controllers should be able to write the format.

You may require rejumpering on the Kaypro floppy drive. I don't remember if they used the "PC twist" or regular shunt numbering. And of course the last drive in the chain must have a terminator (jumper or resistor pack) installed.
Click to expand...

The drive in the Kaypro does have a jumper block, and since I have two drives, I have jumpers for A and B.

The computer with the floppy controller isn't readily accessible for disassembly, else I might try that. The C128 isn't set up, but that would be a much easier route if possible.
 
smp said:
Also, there is someone who occasionally posts his own created boot disks for Kaypro, Osborne, etc., but I do not find any posts from him today.
Click to expand...

That may be the guy I've been dealing with (sort of). He has been pretty unresponsive. I ordered two disks from him and after some time have received one that doesn't work.

Speaking of that disk, I wonder if it's normal that it says "KAYPRO II 63k CP/M vers 2.2g" I assume that is a corrupted byte, as I find evidence of other data corruption. But, maybe that's normal.

The boot process hangs, but if I boot from the other disk that sort of works, I can start WordStar from this one and it displays corrupted text and then hangs.
 
That's a good question. I don't know much about these machines at all. Almost everything I know I learned in the last month or so, which isn't much.
 
Go the Maslin boot disk archive on retroarchive.org and find the boot disk that matches the part number on the ROM in your Kaypro. That'll most likely work.

g.
 
Well I've commandeered the dining room table and set up the C128 and got CP/M Plus running on it. It's difficult to use in 40 columns (no RGBI monitor) but it works. However, it doesn't seem to want to read Kaypro formatted disks. It does seem to identify them (incorrectly) as "KAYPRO IV".

I wonder if it can't read the disks because it's trying to use both sides.

Beyond that I still haven't worked out how to create a Kaypro bootable disk.
 
OK, this is most interesting!

When the C128 says "KAYPRO IV", it's actually a prompt. I can change it to KAYPRO II, and read Kaypro disks just fine. I can even format them. Also, I have confirmed that I correctly aligned the drives in my Kaypro, because all the disks that work in that work in the 1571 and all that don't, don't.

Now all I need to do is figure out how to make a disk bootable, and also get the individual files to copy. As far as I can tell, I can't copy an entire disk at once.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top