• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Kaypro 2'84 disks?

As far as I can tell. I believe there are 8 64k x 1 DRAM chips in sockets in the lower left corner. Has anyone here tried the 256kb mod? I read about it somewhere.
 
OK - I think in my stash I have a 2/84.
After hacksawing a slot into a stripped philips case screw.....

1. Is the model number on yours, on the back panel 81-014?
2. Says "Kaypro 2" on the back, and side panels
3. ports on back, left to right: unlabelled rj11,J5 Parallel Port, J4 Serial Data, J3 Serial Printer Output, J2 keyboard"
4. Does your motherboard look like the attached picture?


T
 

Attachments

  • Kaypro_2-84_mobo.jpg
    Kaypro_2-84_mobo.jpg
    83.2 KB · Views: 3
Let me know how it goes. I only bought one of the double-sided drives, so I could actually use disks for either (can you mix and match those? Or do I need to pick up a 2nd 360kb drive?)
 
OK - I just popped on the drive cage (1) DS/DD 5.25" floppy, set it to DS0, and it booted up off a DS/DD CP/M 2.2F diskette.

SO, it works, no hardware changes needed, not even the ROM.
Of course, the KayPLUS makes it work better, but it'll work as-is.

As to having 2 types, I think the CBIOS is set to have 2 of the same drives.
I don't think, unless you modify the CBIOS memory tables for the drives, that you can have different ones. Maybe the aftermarket ROMs have an option for that, but factory ROMs don't


T
 
I can deal with that. I'm still interested in the disks + KayPLUS ROM, though.
 
Well, I popped in a KayPLUS '84 ROM.
It looks like it will allow a DS/DD and a SS/DD.
First, using kpcnfg84.com to configure CP/M under the KayPLUS, you
set up the drives. Choices are:
5.25" SS/DS/QD
3.5" SS/DS

When you use their FORMAT.COM to format a floppy disk, you have to explicitly tell it details:
Drive letter
Brand (supports Osborne, Kaypro, Xerox, and 1 or 2 more)
Then it asks if it's a QD...then you tell it SS or DS...then entire disk or specify tracks...then it goes to town.

The KayPLUS ROM+CBIOS allows access to the other formats under normal operations, ie, you can be booted, pop in a SS/SD Osborne 1 disk, and do a DIR on it, and it'll work. I actually tried this on my 4/84, and it read that SS/SD Osborne1 CP/M boot disk!

Pretty nifty!

Haven't played with the TurboROM on it yet - I'll probably pop one in there and see how that is.

T
 
Sweet! By "QD" do they mean 1.2 MB or 720 KB for the 5.25" drives? Also, any chance a normal (modern) 1.44mb 3.5" drive will work in 720kb mode?
 
DS/QD is the 96tpi 720kb 5.25" floppies, like in a Tandy 2000, Altos 5 / 580, etc..
I would say a 1.4M 3.5" would work fine - trouble will be finding one that can have the drive select ID changeable!! Most are soldered on the pcboard. Should work fine, though, with 720kb media.

I stress DS/DD media, because using 1.44MB media as 720kb does not work well for long....


T
 
Kewl, even though I no longer own anything except the original K-II (and the Omni-II), having recently given away my last DS/DD K-1. It's still nice to know, as it's sum'n I've wondered about in the past, but never got around to testing. I just wasn't sure if the bootROM would 'see' both sides as a cylinder, or if CP/M 'lives' on only one side, or whatever. I do believe that modding the CBIOS for DS isn't that complicated, probably only requiring one byte to be changed.

--T
 
Not even necessary - just get the CP/M for the system that you basically "upgraded to." In the case of the 2/84, that would be a 2x or a 4/84.
There ya gots a nice, purdy CBIOS, already done, working, running, ready to go!

:D

T
 
Let me get the stuff ready, and I'll drop ya a line.
Your 2/84 does have a 28-pin socket, right?
Right now, you should have a 24-pin EPROM in a 28-pin socket?
4 empty pinholes to the left, as you look into the front?


T
 
Yeah - I'm working on it ;)
I have 3 requests to fulfill, including yours.

So, to sum up, you want:

1) KayPLUS '84 ROM
2) KayPLUS-prepped DS/DD boot disk with KayPLUS Utilities
3) Standard Kaypro DS/DD boot disk with CP/M utilities

Correct?


T
 
As I suspected, from playing with it on my K10....

I have a working setup, but for the TurboROM.
It's working on my 2/84 and 4/84, so it should work with yours, as well.

let me know if this is OK.

TurboROM is not TOO much different - most of the same features, anyway.
I made a disk, with all the TurboROM tools, bootable with a 56K TPA. You use that to gen higher TPA system images.

I also made a 2nd disk, boots a 62K system image, and has all CP/M utilities and SBasic on it. This one also has TURBOCFG.COM to configure TurboBIOS settings on the system track.

Basically, you gen a new size TPA under TurboBIOS, by using the TurboDisk:
1) run PEEK.COM to see max TpA size on your system (ie, 63.00K)
2) ran MOVTURBO 63.00 (result from PEEK.COM saying max size)
3) TURBOGEN TURB6300.SYS (line 2 autosaves with 4-digit TPA size)
4) Asks what drive to dump to (a or b)

Make SURE you write-protect the originals, and make copies of them!
Just put a blank disk in B:, boot the 62K disk, run MFDISK.
Select (f), and then b format disk. Format a second one, while you're at it.
exit out, boot the 56k installed, run TURBOGEN TURBxxxx.sys (yours) and dump it on the b. Allows doing it again, and again. When done, exit.
if at A0>, do pip b:=a:*.*[OV] to dump all to b: - label that one the TurboDisk.

Boot the 62k TPA disk, swap the 2nd formatted disk into b:, and at the A0> prompt, do as above - pip b:=a:*.*[OV] to copy the whole disk to b:
Label that one whatever you like, but that will be your boot disk, with Max TPA size system image.

:eek:nfire:


T
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top