Feature |
Kaypro |
MicroC |
Turbo |
Kplus |
Floppy Disk Support |
All Kaypro formats |
no |
yes |
yes |
YES! |
3.5" drive support |
no |
no |
no |
YES! |
Automatic detection of quad drives w/o hardware |
no |
yes |
no |
YES! |
Unlimited number of other drive formats through
included utility |
no2 |
no |
no2 |
YES! |
Individual adjustable step rates |
no |
yes3 |
yes |
YES! |
FAST stepping rates (2mS-5mS) |
no |
no |
no |
YES! |
Drive reassignment (logical-to-physical translation) |
no |
no |
yes |
YES! |
Allows you to boot from any drive |
no |
no |
no |
YES! |
Hard Drive Support |
Support up to two hard drives of 64Meg each |
no4 |
no4 |
no5 |
YES! |
Boot from hard drive |
n/a |
n/a |
yes |
YES! |
Variable partition size |
n/a |
n/a |
no |
YES! |
NO editing or assembly to install software |
n/a |
n/a |
no |
YES! |
FAST hard drive backup utility |
n/a |
n/a |
no |
YES! |
Non-destructive hard drive test program |
n/a |
n/a |
yes6 |
YES! |
ALL hard drive software included in ROM |
n/a |
n/a |
no6 |
YES! |
Monitor Operation |
Monitor operation |
no |
yes |
no |
YES! |
Dumb terminal mode |
no |
no |
no |
YES! |
Printer Support |
Serial with no- or CTS-protocol; also parallel
printer |
yes |
yes |
yes |
YES! |
Serial data port printer |
no |
no |
no |
YES! |
Serial printer using XON/XOFF or ETX/ACK protocol |
no |
no |
no |
YES! |
Keyboard and Video |
Adjustable screen blanking |
no |
no |
no7 |
YES! |
Support of alternate character set |
no |
no |
yes |
YES! |
Status line indicators for pause & screen dump |
no |
no |
no |
YES! |
32-keystroke input type-ahead buffer |
no |
no |
yes |
YES! |
Support for up to 8 chars per keystroke on numeric
keypad and arrow keys |
no |
no |
no8 |
YES! |
Enable/disable key click |
yes9 |
no |
no |
YES! |
Real-Time Clock Support |
ROM clock (no hardware required) |
no |
no |
no |
YES! |
Kaypro Hardware Clock |
no10 |
yes |
yes |
YES! |
Other: Advent, Ztime, Legacy |
no11 |
no11 |
no |
YES! |
Automatic disk relogging |
no12 |
no |
no |
YES! |
Built-in time/date vector |
no |
no |
no |
YES! |
Special Features |
Dynamic program pause |
no |
no |
no |
YES! |
Advent and Co-Power 88 RAM card support |
no |
no |
no |
YES! |
Extended I/O byte |
no |
no |
no |
YES! |
Value (in 1986) |
Basic ROM package (with included software and doc) |
n/a |
$79 |
$80 |
$70 |
Disk formatting software (like Uniform) |
$65 |
$60 |
included |
included |
Hard drive support software (like Winchester Connection) |
$60 |
$60 |
included |
included |
Hard drive formatter (like Turbo Formatter) |
n/a |
n/a |
$30 |
included |
Multi-keystroke translation (like XTRA key) |
$29 |
$29 |
$29 |
included |
Total ownership cost |
$154 |
$243 |
$139 |
$70 |
Package |
Version |
Date |
Size (bytes) |
Download time
(28.8K baud) |
Click to
download |
KayPLUS '83 ROM |
0.2a |
Sep 1986 |
8192 |
2sec |
kplus83.rom |
KayPLUS '84 ROM |
0.2a |
Sep 1986 |
8192 |
2sec |
kplus84.rom |
KayPLUS software |
0.2 |
Sep 1986 |
170k |
1min 3sec |
kayplus.lbr |
KayPLUS documentation |
0.2 |
Jan 2006 |
449k |
2min 25sec |
kayplus.pdf |
KayPLUS software and documentation |
0.2 |
Jan 2006 |
413k |
2min 31sec |
kayplus.zip |