After having produced several CP/M based computers, Kaypro released this stylish PC compatible portable. It had an innovative dark grey brushed aluminum case with beveled edges covered in ridged black rubber.
When opened, it offered a detachable keyboard, a slimline 3.5" floppy disc drive and a first generation LCD screen with no backlite and limited contrast. The floppy drive front poped up to the right of the case to let the user insert disks.
Two main options could be acquired separatly: a docking station containing two standard card expansion slots and housings for a second floppy drive and a hard disk; and a disk adapter for adding an external 5.25" or 3.5" floppy drive. This adapter also featured a Parallel port and one short card slot. There was also an external battery pack that doubled the four hour autonomy of the main battery.
Like its predecessors, the Kaypro 2000 was sold with a large bundle of software. In addition to MS-DOS operating system, there were the range of Micropro products : WordStar, Mailmerge, CalcStar, InfoStar, and StarBurst, a communications package from Mycroft Labs, and several utilities provided by Kaypro.
The Kaypro 2000 was licencied to the french company SMT which rabadged in 'Goupil Club' and sold it in France (and Europe?) with little success.
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Howard Boyle was the engineering manager for a number of the Kaypro projects...
... and it was a pretty interesting job. The Kaypro 2000 was our first laptop computer. The case, LCD and pop-up disk drive were made my Citizen Watch Company in Japan. They were not cheap! The case was the biggest problem as it was made with sort of an extrusion process and then anodized. Because the finish was anodized aluminum and not painted, any flaws showed up and the part needed to be rejected.
The keyboard and later the keypad and telephone (yes telephone) that attached to the unit were made in Hong Kong. Getting the keys to "feel" right was quite a project as they are plastic and not rubber as you might guess (also the bumper that went around the computer).
On the follow on laptop project the Kaypro 2010, the case was made by a sheet metal shop in California and painted. That was a much better solution for production but the look was somewhat different. LCDs were always a problem as large (for that time) panels tended to have defective pixels so the yields were not great.
Interestingly, we used Gates "D" cell lead acid batteries for the laptops as they had the capacity we needed but charging them and keeping them from becoming too discharged was a constant engineering challenge. Then there was the backlight relay problem..
Well, it was quite an interesting time for the industry and for the company.
James Mitchell reports to us:
I've held a kaypro 2000 for a while. I think it's the prettiest looking computer I ever saw. One of the major problems the 2k faced was that it used lead-acid batteries that made the computer almost unbearably heavy, and which had a terrible propensity to wear out.
Back-lit screen, by Nicholas Howe
:
A back-lit screen for the Kaypro 2000 could be installed by an outfit called Axonics, that was located in Utah. I had this done to my 2000, the last entry in a Kaypro suite of the 2, the 10, and the 2000. I still have all of them, but haven't used them for many years.
We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system,
please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.
Please consider donating your old computer / videogame system to Old-Computers.com or one of our partners from anywhere in the world (Europe, America, Asia, etc.).
I worked for Kaypro when the 2000 was introduced. The Data General DG-1 laptop computer was already on the market when the K2000 hit the street, but the DG-1''s larger display had absolutely horrid contrast, almost to the point of being unuseable. The K2000''s modem used the modular jack for a telephone handset instead of the line cord jack. Kaypro made up some phone cords that had a standard line modular clip on one end and a handset clip on the other so that the K2000 could be connected to a phone line. The modems were made by US Robotics.
Thursday 30th December 2010
Richard (US)
I am the proud owner of one of the very rare licensed SMT Goupil club versions. According to a french site only 2000 were sold in Europe.
As Richard states, the machine had quite some intelligent solutions (e.g. keyboard, Lcd display, etc). Furthermore since the machine was delivered with 768 kB of RAM the seemingly superfluous 128 kB was used as a third virtual diskdrive with great speed advantages. When connected to an external monitor the quality of the picture was quite good. Finally a 5,25 " external drive could be bought but, being a student my financial situation didn''t allow me to do so at the time (unfortunately). The docking station was unknown in Europe.
The machines were made to last and had a kind of Bang $ Olufsen feel about them. the only drawback were the very heavy batteries which are now, unfortunately, very very hard to find. When the machine was sold, the same batteries were used in medical apparatus of all kind as a back up in case of a power failure. Nowadays I have to search in shops specializing in remote controlled planes, boats etc because it seems some remote controllers use the same batteries.
Monday 30th May 2011
Frederik van Kappen (Europe)
I keep a Kaypro 2000 in perfect condition, equipped with an internal 2400 (?) bps modem, AC power supply, user manual, OS diskettes and some application software diskettes $manuals.
I used it quite a bit when I was young$ the loud droning noise of the diskette head displacement within its case is absolutely unique and I turn it on about once a year just to hear it again.
Its nickname was "The Firebomb", because it had a conductive paint layer on the inside of some plastic parts, probably to reduce EM interference. This paint invisibly touched a part of the modem power supply pins when it got displaced during transport and upon turning it on, smoke would come through the upper left hand grille on top of the keyboard. It happened twice, quite worrying the first time until the reason was discovered, which was not easy.
A quite elegant piece of mechanical engineering, whoever was in charge of the project should be praised and remembered for its attention to external design esthetics, years ahead of its "ugly brick" competition.
Friday 24th April 2020
ajobpd (Monaco, Europe) (Monaco)
NAME
2000
MANUFACTURER
Kaypro
TYPE
Portable
ORIGIN
U.S.A.
YEAR
1985
BUILT IN LANGUAGE
None
KEYBOARD
Detachable full stroke 77 keys with 10 function keys
CPU
Intel 8088
SPEED
4.77 MHz.
CO-PROCESSOR
Socket for 8087 math coprocessor
RAM
256 KB up to 768 KB on board
VRAM
16 KB
ROM
Unknown
TEXT MODES
40 or 80 chars. x 25 lines
GRAPHIC MODES
640 x 200 (CGA mode compatible)
COLORS
16 grey shades
SOUND
Built-in speaker
SIZE / WEIGHT
33 (W) x 28.7 (D) x 7(H) cm / 5.5 kg.
I/O PORTS
Serial, 2 x RJ-11 jacks for optional modem, 100-pin expansion connector
BUILT IN MEDIA
1 x 720 KB 3.5'' floppy disc drive
OS
MS-DOS
POWER SUPPLY
Internal battery or AC power
PERIPHERALS
Expansion base unit ($795), floppy disc adapter ($150), modem, external battery pack
