First of all, thanks for your post !
We need the younger generation like you [your profile says you are 15 with 14 years of vintage computing interest – guess you started at an early age – good for you !] to ask such questions to help spread the word so all this expert and historical information does not get lost as time goes by.
We older computer “folk” grew up with computers so many years ago [me since 1974 !], sso ome things are obvious, but some still not.
It also gets us to question things we never thought about.
Specifically, I really do not know either. In all my research I have never come across much specific information on how / why they did certain things in the design and manufacturing process.
Osborne did give an insight in his “hypergrowth” term – things just moving too fast and difficult to keep up.
By the way, his portable / luggable computer – some say the first one - before the Kaypro even, made use of such a coiled keyboard cable, so Kaypro may have just been simply copying the Osborne which had been so successful !
So the case could be made that Kaypro just made use of whatever was already available from many other sources for their computers. They just did not have the time and resources to make everything from the ground up, IBM included with their first PC even – which more easily opened the floodgates for “ clones “ of this computer and all that followed so dramatically !
With the Kaypros, it helped to neatly store the coiled cord on top of the monitor screen when you put the keyboard on top of it to attach the case and keyboard together, since it was suppose to be “portable” – really just “luggable” computer.
Check what Compaq did with their laptop after the Kaypros – see pictures from a Google search – the coiled keyboard cord coils nicely into a tube in the lower left corner of the case and appears to not be detachable. So it could not be lost.
Kaypro users notoriously lost their coiled keyboard cords and thus their Kaypros were useless until another one was found.
They looked similar to phone coiled cords, but were not – many posts on this on this site – just do a search. But the end pieces can be for phones.
Kaypro designed their early computers in many innovative ways based on their extensive experience with making very high quality electronic testing instruments, even for the military. This was probably why early Kaypros were so rugged and practical. Many electronic instruments even today make use of such coiled cords since they have so many practical advantages.
Notice the basic first design of the Kaypro II did not change very much over the years as other more advanced Kaypros were developed, even down to the coiled keyboard cord.
Check out Kaypro and other early computer history on Google searches and the free download draft of my Kaypro book on my website.
Of course, coiled cords can be neater – they pull out to the length you need up to 6 feet I believe for the Kaypro. There were some couplers available to attach another one so the length could be up to 12 feet. But with only a 9 inch Kaypro screen, it would be difficult to see at 12 feet and even at 6 feet for those of us older people with eyesight issues – bifocals, etc.
Cords not coiled can get tangled more easily, can be just not as neat and naturally can be more easily bent to possibly break the internal wires.
Chuck may know of some other electronic / electrical issues with such cords, especially as they get too long.
Such coiled keyboard cords continued to be used for many years, but were permanently attached to the keyboard in many cases.
But as noted above, there were disadvantages also.
Now with so many things being wireless, many may not realize this past history, but they will when they search this site because you asked the question
Hope this is of some interest and use.
Will be curious what others have to offer.
Please keep those comments, questions, etc, coming !
People are so busy today, so do not be discouraged if you do not get replies and if those you do get are short.
Wow – a senior member so fast !!!
Frank
Quality chord is never coiled. Look at some catalogues for microphone cable and you will see. As for tangling. ??? Coiled chords tangle in the most nasty manner and often won't go back to their original form after abuse. I suggest you try pulling a couple of 12 foot curly guitar chords out of a suitcase full of chords that have just been thrown in at the end of a show. That is a common scenario, as is a cardboard box full of chords. The curly wraps itself around the others and you can't get them apart. If they were all curlies you might as well throw the whole box away. Fortunately straight chords have always been the standard. The curies were just a passing fashion.