So I'm looking at a Kaypro 4 and they want $299 plus shipping for it. Is that too much to pay? I'm also looking for a printer for it. Does this require a serial or paralel port? 30 years ago, I had a Kaypro II and I can't remember what kind of printer cable it used. I do remember it was an Okidata Microline 82 (I think). What about dip switches? I'm leaning toward a dot matrix printer because a daisywheel is so limited in the characters it can print. 30 years ago, I became a whiz at CP/M.... I've forgotten all the commands but I guess it will come back quick. It's amazing in this age of planned oblascence how well the Kaypros' have lasted. Any comments y'all have will be much appreciated!
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Texas Kaypro 4 And Stuff
- Thread starter Tommar
- Start date
Covers: Texas
ldkraemer
Veteran Member
My Kaypro II was around $2200 Just for the Kaypro Ii and associated Software, so $299 isn't
a bad price if it's fully operational. Depends on how much you want to use it and how you use
it. I used an Epson MX80 Printer with mine TRS-80's. Don't recall if I printed from the Kaypro II.
I upgraded my Kaypro II to 4 MHz and the Decoder Board for 3 (of 4) Floppy Drives. It's
still Operational.
Larry
a bad price if it's fully operational. Depends on how much you want to use it and how you use
it. I used an Epson MX80 Printer with mine TRS-80's. Don't recall if I printed from the Kaypro II.
I upgraded my Kaypro II to 4 MHz and the Decoder Board for 3 (of 4) Floppy Drives. It's
still Operational.
Larry
rlauzon
Experienced Member
There are multiple Kaypro 4 models. The Kaypro 4 (1983) has full height drives and the screen doesn't support highlighting (bold and reverse). The Kaypro 4 (1984) has half height drives and the screen supports highlighting.
Both have parallel ports. I think that the Kaypro 4/84 has a serial printer port too - but I'm not sure. The cable for the parallel printer should be the same as the IBM PC - 25 pin D connector to Centronics (or whatever the printer uses).
IHMO: You would be better off getting a virtual printer. I have one that basically hooks up like a printer, but you can access it via Wifi and pull off the output that would have gotten printed.
The problem with printers is getting consumables for them.
But I do have an Okidata Microline 82 too. And I still seem to be able to buy paper (tractor feed) and ribbons for it.
As for value. If it's a Kaypro 4/83 I think $300 is a little on the high side. If it's a 4/84, that would seem about right.
That assumes that it's fully functional.
bladamson
Veteran Member
I think it's probably worth about half that, or less if it has issues to be fixed. But then again everything is always getting more expensive and I am a cheapskate, so maybe I am full of poo.
The Kaypros have a parallel port, but it uses a centronics connector, not db-25 (or at least that's how mine is). Not sure if the pinout is straight through or not; I've never tried the parallel port on mine.
The Kaypros have a parallel port, but it uses a centronics connector, not db-25 (or at least that's how mine is). Not sure if the pinout is straight through or not; I've never tried the parallel port on mine.
Hi! Thanks for responding. This is definitely the 4/84. And almost like new condition. It has NO software though. I am assuming that Kaypro DDSD disks will work with the DDDS drives... that is, Kaypro software. What is a virtual printer? Do I use my modern laptop and Wifi with a virtual printer? Can you tell me more or direct me to where I can find out how to do this? Also, where/how can I get software for a Kaypro II Kaypro 4?
rlauzon
Experienced Member
For software there are some options:
1. Find someone with the same machine to make the disks for you. Some people on eBay do this for a fee.
2. Replace at least one of the drives with a floppy emulator - at least for a period of time while you copy the disk images you can download onto real disks.
3. Permanently replace your drives with floppy emulators.
Software is pretty easy to find on the web. The hard part is getting it on to your Kaypro.
Commercial CP/M Software Archive
www.retroarchive.org
The *HUMONGOUS* CP/M Software Archives
The Internet's largest, most comprehensive collection of software for Digital Research's CP/M family of operating systems.
My Kaypro 4/83 has a HxC floppy emulator from Lotharek and works really nice.
I've also had Goteks in my Kaypro "1" for a while (but it's back to real floppy disks).
A virtual printer is something like this. Basically, it looks like a printer to your computer, but offers a network interface that you can access from your modern PC to either send it to your modern printer, or copy to a file.
The link is for a product that is not sold anymore and I had to build my own cable, but it does work nicely on my Kaypro.
A note here: If the machine has no software, then the seller cannot prove that it works. Getting the "Insert disk in the A: drive" message is not proof of functionality. He needs to reduce the price accordingly.
VERAULT
Veteran Member
I think a Basic Kaypro luggable is worth $150 plus or minus $25.00 Anymore seems far too much. With that said and the ever rollercoaster prices of vintage computer collecting.. Maybe I am just unaware of the current market price on them.
All i know is most of mine were gotten for the $40 to $60 price point just 7 or 8 years ago.
All i know is most of mine were gotten for the $40 to $60 price point just 7 or 8 years ago.
rlauzon
Experienced Member
I had had to check once I read this. You're right. I was sure it was a DB-25, but it is a Centronics on the Kaypro. Shows how often I use the printer...
bladamson
Veteran Member
The only reason I knew was because it's sitting next to me on the workbench, haha.
Have some more questions re: printers: Can a laser printer be used? I've seen cables where one end is a centronics/parallel male and the other end is a USB or other type connector. Would a laser printer thus work? I plan to use the CP/M Wordstar and the Perfect Writer CP/M word processing software. Perfect Writer (as I recall) was quirky and difficult to learn but it had the ability to create and automatically re-arrange footnotes when writing papers requiring them. Once I mastered PW, it worked well. Unlike Wordstar, PW's screen was not a match for the actual printed page and one had to get used to that quirk. I'm still negotiating about the Kaypro 4/84 unit...For software there are some options:
1. Find someone with the same machine to make the disks for you. Some people on eBay do this for a fee.
2. Replace at least one of the drives with a floppy emulator - at least for a period of time while you copy the disk images you can download onto real disks.
3. Permanently replace your drives with floppy emulators.
Software is pretty easy to find on the web. The hard part is getting it on to your Kaypro.
Commercial CP/M Software Archive
(and I'm sure that there are more places.)The *HUMONGOUS* CP/M Software Archives
The Internet's largest, most comprehensive collection of software for Digital Research's CP/M family of operating systems.cpmarchives.classiccmp.org
My Kaypro 4/83 has a HxC floppy emulator from Lotharek and works really nice.
I've also had Goteks in my Kaypro "1" for a while (but it's back to real floppy disks).
A virtual printer is something like this. Basically, it looks like a printer to your computer, but offers a network interface that you can access from your modern PC to either send it to your modern printer, or copy to a file.
The link is for a product that is not sold anymore and I had to build my own cable, but it does work nicely on my Kaypro.
A note here: If the machine has no software, then the seller cannot prove that it works. Getting the "Insert disk in the A: drive" message is not proof of functionality. He needs to reduce the price accordingly.
bladamson
Veteran Member
Doubtful. Those contraptions are to add a parallel output port to a modern computer; they don't work in the other direction.
I suspect that your best bet is to do something over serial. You can probably set up something on a linux box to grab everything off of a serial port and pipe it to the printer. Then you'd have to hook your kaypro up to that with a null modem cable or something.
Alternately, a lot of the boat anchor office laser printers from the 00s and earlier still had parallel and serial ports and many still work fine. If you could find one near enough to pick up to avoid paying shipping, you could probably get it for beer money.
rlauzon
Experienced Member
Qualified "yes". The laser printer would have to have a real parallel port on it (not a USB like bladamson commented on).
Most modern laser printers are "graphics only" in that it expects the computer to send it a series of pictures to print on the paper. These old computers can't do that. You'd have to get a laser printer that supports a teletype type of input.
So an old laser printer would probably work. But probably nothing made in the last decade or so.
Certainly not.
But I think you understand now why something like the virtual printer was created.
ldkraemer
Veteran Member
Tommar,
I sent you several Direct Messages. They explain the process. Check your Direct Messages.
Yes, the Kaypro 4 (DS/DD) floppy can run most, if not all of the Kaypro II (SS/DD) software.
The Floppy images are just half the Storage size.
Larry
I sent you several Direct Messages. They explain the process. Check your Direct Messages.
Yes, the Kaypro 4 (DS/DD) floppy can run most, if not all of the Kaypro II (SS/DD) software.
The Floppy images are just half the Storage size.
Larry
Rlauzon is recommending a virtual printer for my Kaypro 4/84 (which I still have not received from the seller). Rlauzon says that using a virtual printer with Wifi will allow me to send print output from the Kaypro to my modern laptop where I can simply wirelessly send it to my printer as normal. At least, that's what I am understanding. But how do I locate a virtual printer? The link that Rlauzon provided no longer is available. So I need help!
rlauzon
Experienced Member
Well, this is a bummer. I did a quick check. I thought that Kyle was still selling out his stock on eBay, but it looks like those are gone now.
I don't have a good solution for this right now, unless you want to "roll your own" with an Arduino and an soldering iron.
What is an Arduino? Looks like I will need to buy an Okidata or old Epson....
rlauzon
Experienced Member
An Arduino is a micro controller. You can (in theory) program it to pull data of the parallel port and do something with it.
But since you've never heard of it, it's probably not a project you want to tackle today.
Does anyone know what printers work with the Kaypro 4? Right now I am looking at the Okidata Microline 186, an HP 720C inkjet, and a plethora of daisywheel printers, including the Tandy DWP 230, and TA Royal Office Master 2000 brands... The Oki 186, and HP 720C have parallel ports. However, the HP 720C inkjet documentation specifically says it works with Windows; I have no idea if it works with a CP/M machine; No info on the Oki 186 or the daisywheel printers. I assume that the daisywheel printers are also parallel ports but no information on them is forthcoming. Any help would be greatly appreciated!