floppy for IBM PC convertible (5140)

[hp]

I found an old pc convertible , but cannot find the floppy disks , do somebody knows where to download them ?
Thankyou

 

[Terry Yager]

Re: floppy for IBM PC convertible (5140)

I found an old pc convertible , but cannot find the floppy disks , do somebody knows where to download them ?
Thankyou

Try here, you'll find several flavors to choose from:

www.bootdisk.com

I think it shipped with PCDOS v. 3.2, but later versions may have come with v. 3.3. (Any version of DOS should work as long as it's on a 720K floppy disk). You will need floppy disks that are formatted to 720K. If you don't know how to do this, post a message here and someone will get back to you with instructions.

--T

 

[hp]

Thank you very much , i found there this ink:
www.oldstuff.myagora.net/powerload/bootdisk.htm
i hope it will work .

 

[Terry Yager]

Thank you very much , i found there this ink:
www.oldstuff.myagora.net/powerload/bootdisk.htm
i hope it will work .

Kewl link, I never checked it out before. I D/L-ed MSDOS v. 1.25 from there. I'm going to try it on my Kaypro 10.

--T

 

[CP/M User]

"Terry Yager" wrote:

> Kewl link, I never checked it out before.
> I D/L-ed MSDOS v. 1.25 from there.
> I'm going to try it on my Kaypro 10.

Would that work on that machine?

I heard MSDOS v1.25 was a joke! ;-)

CP/M User.

 

[Terry Yager]

"Terry Yager" wrote:

> Kewl link, I never checked it out before.
> I D/L-ed MSDOS v. 1.25 from there.
> I'm going to try it on my Kaypro 10.

Would that work on that machine?

I heard MSDOS v1.25 was a joke! ;-)

CP/M User.

Not on a normal K10, but mine has an SWP CoPower 88 board installed, which gives it an 8088 processor and 256K of extra ram. The ram can only be used as a ramdisk under CP/M, but it's the main system memory when the 8088 is in control. I have two different versions of bootloader for MSDOS for it. One loads version 2.11 and the other is for v.1.25. I have the v.2.11 system disk but never had v. 1.25 before. Version 1.x didn't support subdirectories, but I really don't remember the other differences, even though I've used it before (on the Sanyo 555, and on my ol' Victor 9000s).
The SWP CoPower board started out as a third-party add-on for any(?) Z-80 system, but late in thier production run, Kaypro came out with a pair of computers that included it as standard. These were called the 2 +88, and the 4 +88. There is a 4 +88 on eBay right now, and it looks like it's gonna go pretty cheap. There is only a little time left, and it was only at $20.00. Wish I had the extra cash...

Just checked, auction is over now, but check it out anyways. Look closely at the pictures, and you can see a little round sticker in one of them that says plus88 on it. That is the only way to identify one from the outside, otherwise they look just like the plain K4.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...5&category=4193&sspagename=STRK:MEBWA:IT&rd=1

--T

 

[CP/M User]

Terry Yager" wrote:

>> Would that work on that machine?

>> I heard MSDOS v1.25 was a joke! ;-)

> Not on a normal K10, but mine has an SWP
> CoPower 88 board installed, which gives it
>an 8088 processor and 256K of extra ram.
> The ram can only be used as a ramdisk
> under CP/M, but it's the main system
> memory when the 8088 is in control. I
> have two different versions of bootloader
> for MSDOS for it. One loads version 2.11
> and the other is for v.1.25. I have the
> v.2.11 system disk but never had v. 1.25
> before. Version 1.x didn't support
> subdirectories, but I really don't remember
> the other differences, even though I've
> used it before (on the Sanyo 555, and on
> my ol' Victor 9000s).

Oh okay, I've heard that some Kaypros
had support for MSDOS, but I didn't realise
the Kaypro 10 was one of them.

> The SWP CoPower board started out as
> a third-party add-on for any(?) Z-80
> system, but late in thier production run,
> Kaypro came out with a pair of computers
> that included it as standard. These were
> called the 2 +88, and the 4 +88. There
> is a 4 +88 on eBay right now, and it looks
> like it's gonna go pretty cheap. There is
> only a little time left, and it was only at
> $20.00. Wish I had the extra cash...

> Just checked, auction is over now, but
> check it out anyways. Look closely at the
> pictures, and you can see a little round
> sticker in one of them that says plus88 on
> it. That is the only way to identify one
> from the outside, otherwise they look just
> like the plain K4.

Thanks for the link.

Cheers,
CP/M User.

 

[Terry Yager]

Oh okay, I've heard that some Kaypros
had support for MSDOS, but I didn't realise
the Kaypro 10 was one of them.

I don't think Kaypro ever installed the 8088 board in any K10s, just the 2+ and the 4+. The 2+ machines are very rare these days, but the 4+ is a little more common, but still pretty rare. (I don't think the seller on eBay really knew what they were selling, or they could have got a lot more for it). Acording to my 1985 Bowker's Sourcebook, the 8088 board added an extra $700.00 to the price of the Kaypros that it came in. Before that time it used to be a $1000.00 add-in. If I understand it correctly, Kaypro bought a piece of SWP when they started to go under. The SWP version could be installed in any Z-80 machine, AFAIK. I have seen a couple of them in non-Kaypro machines. One of them was a Xerox of some kind. (I don't remember if it was an 820, or a 8/16). The one in the Xerox had 512K installed, and another set of empty sockets to go up to 1MB.
As far as MSDOS compatability, it isn't very good. It will run MSDOS, but not much more. I have only ever found one IBM program that runs correctly, MicroSoft MultiMate spreadsheet. (Even WordStar for IBM has problems).

--T

 

[barryp]

I don't think Kaypro ever installed the 8088 board in any K10s

I have (somewhere in the garage) part of a Kaypro 10. What I think I have is the case and keyboard. The keyboard is Kaypro-shaped but PC-style (10 function keys, etc.) Said keyboard will work when attached to a PC or XT.

As far as MSDOS compatability, it isn't very good. It will run MSDOS, but not much more. I have only ever found one IBM program that runs correctly, MicroSoft MultiMate spreadsheet. (Even WordStar for IBM has problems).

Multimate was a word processor, not spreadsheet nor by Microsoft. I used it a lot but never liked it.

 

[Terry Yager]

I have (somewhere in the garage) part of a Kaypro 10. What I think I have is the case and keyboard. The keyboard is Kaypro-shaped but PC-style (10 function keys, etc.) Said keyboard will work when attached to a PC or XT.

I think what you have is probably a Kaypro 16, the first IBM-compatable portable that Kaypro built (1986?). That would have a peecee-style keyboard. Does it have a backplane with all the boards, including the (8086?) processor board mounted vertically in it? (All inside a metal card-cage, right above and to the rear of the video tube).

As far as MSDOS compatability, it isn't very good. It will run MSDOS, but not much more. I have only ever found one IBM program that runs correctly, MicroSoft MultiMate spreadsheet. (Even WordStar for IBM has problems).

Multimate was a word processor, not spreadsheet nor by Microsoft. I used it a lot but never liked it.

Oh, DUH! (My bad). I meant to say MultiPlan...

--T

 

[CP/M User]

"Terry Yager" wrote:

> As far as MSDOS compatability, it isn't very
> good. It will run MSDOS, but not much
> more. I have only ever found one IBM
> program that runs correctly, MicroSoft
> MultiMate spreadsheet. (Even WordStar for
> IBM has problems).

I believe it would be very good, if you can
find programs which were mean't for your
system, rather than trying pot luck testing
IBM based programs, which obviously
program the hardware & or interrupts. This
is big trouble for machines like the Sirus
(Victor 9000) or Sanyo 555, which weren't
quite like an IBM or compatable. This is
why I've said in the past, machines like
those need to be kept seperate, because
while they may use the same processor,
& OS (in CP/M-86s case there's a special
version for those machines & one specific
to the IBM), they are far different in terms
of hardware.

Some actually think that writing an emulator
based on something like the Victor 9000 is
a joke, but I think that is in a sense a joke,
because it's clearly not an IBM.

Cheers,
CP/M User.

 

[Terry Yager]

I believe it would be very good, if you can
find programs which were mean't for your
system, rather than trying pot luck testing
IBM based programs, which obviously
program the hardware & or interrupts.

Oh, I do have a whole lot of "toys" for CP/M, but I like running MSDOS on my K10, "just because I can". I think you're on the right track, tho. A lot of the incompatability issues are probably
the result of the programmer writing directly to the hardware (faster) rather than using system calls like they're "supposed" to do (slower, but more compatable; doesn't require identical hardware).

This is big trouble for machines like the Sirus
(Victor 9000) or Sanyo 555, which weren't
quite like an IBM or compatable. This is
why I've said in the past, machines like
those need to be kept seperate, because
while they may use the same processor,
& OS (in CP/M-86s case there's a special
version for those machines & one specific
to the IBM), they are far different in terms
of hardware.

Let's not forget the Tandy Model 2000, always one of my favorites.

Some actually think that writing an emulator
based on something like the Victor 9000 is
a joke, but I think that is in a sense a joke,
because it's clearly not an IBM.

Cheers,
CP/M User.

I wish I had a Victor 9000 emulator...even a Sanyo 555 emu would be nice. (Do you know of any?)

--T

 

[barryp]

I think what you have is probably a Kaypro 16, the first IBM-compatable portable that Kaypro built (1986?). That would have a peecee-style keyboard. Does it have a backplane with all the boards, including the (8086?) processor board mounted vertically in it? (All inside a metal card-cage, right above and to the rear of the video tube).

I just found the subject of my response. It is a Kaypro 10 but is a (nearly) empty shell. It looks like someone had a plan to do something but lost interest. I was wrong about the keyboard, it's separate from the 10 because there's a regular kb with the 10.


My Kaypro inventory: a full 2 (x? or II?) with books/disks, a shell of a 10 with keyboard and a keyboard from a 16.

 

[barryp]

As far as MSDOS compatability, it isn't very good.

I believe it would be very good, if you can
find programs which were meant for your
system, rather than trying pot luck testing
IBM based programs, which obviously
program the hardware & or interrupts.

But by definition, if you have to pick specific programs, it ISN'T very compatible.

 

[Terry Yager]

I just found the subject of my response. It is a Kaypro 10 but is a (nearly) empty shell. It looks like someone had a plan to do something but lost interest. I was wrong about the keyboard, it's separate from the 10 because there's a regular kb with the 10.


My Kaypro inventory: a full 2 (x? or II?) with books/disks, a shell of a 10 with keyboard and a keyboard from a 16.

I'm sorry to hear that your K-10 is gutted. Hopefully some day you'll get one that works. Good luck. BTW, does your 10 still have the hard drive with it? (I may be in the market for one in the near future).

--T

 

[barryp]

BTW, does your 10 still have the hard drive with it? (I may be in the market for one in the near future).

What size would it have been? 10MB? I may have it here somewhere.

As far as I can tell, the only thing left in the case is the CRT.

 

[Terry Yager]

BTW, does your 10 still have the hard drive with it? (I may be in the market for one in the near future).

What size would it have been? 10MB? I may have it here somewhere.

As far as I can tell, the only thing left in the case is the CRT.

Yeah, 10 MB. Mine crashed real hard a few weeks ago. Still works, but it's just limping along on it's last leg.

--T

 

[Terry Yager]

But by definition, if you have to pick specific programs, it ISN'T very compatible.

Yes, but it allowed Kaypro to sell a bunch of 'em by advertising them as "IBM Compatable", at a time when those words were important to a lot of buyers. (Heh, there really is one born every minute, isn't there?)

--T

 

[Terry Yager]

IBM Compatability:

Legend (urban?) has it that the way IBM-compatability was determined back in the day, was to attempt to run the 100 top-selling IBM programs for that week. If 95 of 'em ran ok, then the computer was considered to be 95% IBM compatable, etc.

--T

 

[Terry Yager]

My Kaypro inventory: a full 2 (x? or II?) with books/disks, a shell of a 10 with keyboard and a keyboard from a 16.

Here's a very nice pic I just kicked up:

http://www.mynewoffice.com/pcmuseum/Kaypro343.jpg

--T