NAME  

Kaypro 4

MANUFACTURER  

Kaypro

TYPE  

Transportable

ORIGIN  

U.S.A.

YEAR  

1984

END OF PRODUCTION 

1985

KEYBOARD  

Full-stroke keyboard with arrow keys and separated keypad

CPU  

Z80A

SPEED  

4 MHz

COPROCESSOR  

Motorola 6845 (video controller)

RAM  

64 KB

VRAM  

2 KB

ROM  

2 KB

TEXT MODES 

80 chars x 25 lines

GRAPHIC MODES 

Virtual 160 x 100 through graphical characters

COLORS  

Built-in 9'' monochrome monitor

SIZE / WEIGHT 

45 x 36 x 21 cm / 15kg

I/O PORTS 

2 serial ports, 1 parallel port, communication socket (built-in modem)

BUILT IN MEDIA 

two 5.25'' DS/DD half-height floppy drives (390 kb)

OS  

CP/M 2.2

POWER SUPPLY 

Built-in PSU

 

Kaypro 4
Kaypro 4

This is the Kaypro 4 released in
1984, usually referred as Kaypro 4
'84, as opposed to the Kaypro IV
released one year earlier, and
referred as Kaypro IV '83.

The main differences between the
Kaypro 4 '84 and the Kaypro IV '83
are:
- a faster CPU, Zilog Z80A running
at 4Mhz
- a real time clock which can be
used by programs
- a better built-in monitor resulting in a very sharp display. The character matrix has
also evolved from 5 x 7 on the Kaypro II and IV '83 to 8 x 16 pixels on the Kaypro 4
'84
- the system has now rudimentary graphics through graphical characters resulting in a
virtual 160 x 100 resolution
- characters can be displayed using two brightness levels and reverse attribute
- the new prompt is a blinking square
- like on modern keyboards, J and F keys are slightly different in shape from the other
keys, so it's possible to spot them while staring at the screen
- there is a built-in modem (300 baud)
- the system now has two DS/DD half-height floppy drives (390 kb)

The system was bundled with WordStar, dBase II, MicroPlan, Microsoft Basic, S-Basic,
SuperCalc, C-Basic and CP/M 2.2 !

In 1984, in order to be compatible with IBM software, a special version was marketed
with an Intel 8088 CPU in addition of the Z80A. It was called Kaypro 4 Plus 88!