Kaypro II
Sunday, June 14, 2009
The KayproII systems were known to be square-built ! All the hardware is packed into a solid aluminum case.Despite of its weight(10kg),it was rugged, reliable, reasonably priced, looking more like instruments than the creative, communications (and business) tool that it is. It was a success in the market-with 9 inch monitor & dual floopy drive 
Arthur C. Clarke lived in Sri Lanka while working on the movie version of his science-fiction novel "2010". He used hisKaypro II and a modem to keep in touch with Peter Hyams (the director) in Los Angeles.
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Despite its name, the Kaypro II was the first Kaypro model. The name was KAYPRO II, because the Apple II was the most popular system (besides the IBM PC) around back then, and Kaypro decided to follow in the image.
It was conceived by Non Linear Systems inc., a company with over 30 years' experience of producing small portable aerospace electronic equipment, which would later become Kaypro.
The Kaypro systems were known to be square-built ! All the hardware is packed into a solid aluminum case. These computers can resist to a lot of trouble as they proved when ten of them (Kaypro IV & 10) were used by doctors for the Paris-Dakar 84's edition. Non of them failed despite extreme conditions.
One asset of the Kaypro, over the Osborne 1 which was available at about the same time, is the 9" built-in monitor, easily twice the size of the Osborne's. Though the Kaypro 2 has no graphic features, it can display 80 x 24 characters. There are two single-sided / double-density full-heigth 5.25'' disk-drives (190k each). One can be used to boot CP/M and the other to run the software.
The Kaypro II is a real "luggable" system. Even if it weights more than 10kg, it can be easily moved with the handle found at the back.
At the rear of the system, one can find a serial port, a parallel port, a keyboard connector, a brightness control knob and reset button.
Perfect Writer, Perfect Calc, Perfect Filer, Perfect Speller, S-Basic, CP/M and Profitplan were bundled with the system. Later WordStar was also available.
As usual with Kaypro, the model names logic is quite dramatic to resolve. Several Kaypro "2" were marketed :
- In 1984 a new Kaypro 2 (refered as Kaypro 2'84) is introduced. It has two SS/DD half-height floppy drives, a Z-80A running at 4.0 MHz, 2 serial ports and rudimentary graphics (through graphic characters).
- The same year, the Kaypro 2X is released. Very similar to a Kaypro 2'84 but with DS/DD half-height drives.
- Still in 1984, in order to be compatible with IBM software, a special version was marketed with an Intel 8088 CPU instead of the Z80A. It was called the Kaypro II Plus 88!
- In 1985 another Kaypro 2 refered as "New 2" is sold. It is basically an old 2X motherboard, with one or two DS/DD floppy drives, but no 300 baud modem previously found on the 2X. It comes with just CP/M and Wordstar for software.
- And to spice up a bit things, Kaypro decides to rename its Kaypro 4'84 as Kaypro 2X (sometimes also known as 2X MTC), thus dropping the previous 2X model!
Name: Kaypro II
Manufacturer
Kaypro Division
Non-Linear Systems Inc.
533 Stevens Ave.
Solana Beach, CA 92075
(619) 755-1134
Dimensions
Folds to an 18- by 8- by 15 1/2-inch suitcase-like metal box with a handle; weighs 26 pounds
Components
A Zilog Z80 microprocessor running at 2.5 MHz; 64K bytes of dynamic RAM and 2K bytes of screen memory; an 80-column by 24-line green-phosphor display with brightness control; a selectric-style keyboard with numeric keypad; two single-sided, double-density 5 1/4-inch drives, each with a capacity of 193K bytes (formatted); RS-232C serial and Centronics-compatible parallel ports
Software
CP/M 2.2; the Perfect Software family: Perfect Writer (word processor), Perfect Files [database), Perfect Calc (spreadsheet), Perfect Speller (spelling checker), tutorial disks; The Word Plus (Spelling checker); Profitplan (spreadsheet); MBASIC (Interpreted BASIC with Games); S-BASIC (structured, compiled BASIC); system utilities.
Documentation
System manual; standard CP/M manual; Perfect Software manuals; The Word Plus and Profitplan manuals, S-BASIC and MBASIC manuals (language descriptions)
Price
$1595
Options
Vinyl and nylon cases
Laptop classification
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Laptop is divided into several category according to its use and user.Such as Netbook is dedicated to net surfing while excluding other feature.RUGGED LAPTOP can sustain rough condition while subnotebook is dedicated to portability. - Desktop replacement – emphasizes performance, is less portable, 15" and larger screen;
- Standard laptop – balances portability and features, 13-15" screen;
- Subnotebook – emphasizes portability, has fewer features, 13" or smaller screen.
By features:
- Budget – a cheap, lower-performance standard-sized laptop;
- Tablet PC – Has a touch-screen interface, may or may not have a keyboard;
- Netbook – A cheaper, smaller version of a subnotebook suited to Internet surfing and basic office applications.
- Rugged – Engineered to operate in tough conditions (strong vibrations, extreme temperatures, wet and dusty environments).
desktop replacement computer-A desktop replacement computer is a laptop that provides most of the capabilities of a desktop computer, with a similar level of performance.
Size-Desktop replacements are usually larger and heavier than standard laptops.
Ports-They contain more powerful components and numerous ports, and have a 15.4" or larger display.
portability-Because of their bulk, they are not as portable as other laptops and their operation time on batteries is typically shorter.
desknotes-Some laptops in this class use a limited range of desktop components to provide better performance for the same price at the expense of battery life; in a few of those models, there is no battery at all and the laptop can only be used when plugged in. These are sometimes called desknotes
Subnotebook-
subnotebook- A subnotebook, also called an ultraportable by some vendors, is a laptop designed and marketed with an emphasis on portability (small size, low weight and long battery life) that retains the performance of a standard notebook.
Weight- Subnotebooks are usually smaller and lighter than standard laptops, weighing between 0.8 and 2 kg (2 to 5 pounds);
Battery life- the battery life can exceed 10 hours when a large battery or an additional battery pack is installed.
To achieve the size and weight reductions, ultraportables use high resolution 13" and smaller screens (down to 6.4"), have relatively few ports, employ expensive components designed for minimal size and best power efficiency, and utilize advanced materials and construction methods. Some subnotebooks achieve a further portability improvement by omitting an optical/removable media drive; in this case they may be paired with a docking station that contains the drive and optionally more ports or an additional battery.
The term "subnotebook" is usually reserved to laptops that run general-purpose desktop operating systems such as Windows, Linux or Mac OS X, rather than specialized software such as Windows CE, Palm OS or Internet Tablet OS.
| Developer | AsusTeK Computer Inc. |
|---|---|
| Type | Subnotebook/Netbook |
| Operating system | Xandros Linux Microsoft Windows XP |
| Website | http://eeepc.asus.com |
Netbooks are laptops that are light-weight, economical, energy-efficient and especially suited for wireless communication and Internet access. Hence the name netbook (as "the device excels in web-based computing performance") rather than notebook which pertains to size.
Especially suited for web browsing and e-mailing, netbooks "rely heavily on the Internet for remote access to web-based applications and are targeted increasingly at cloud computing users who rely on servers and require a less powerful client computer..
Weight and Size-While the devices range in size from below 5 inches to over 12, most are between 7 and 11 inches and weigh between 2 and 3 pounds.
Operating system-Netbooks have a wide range of light-weight operating systems including Linux and Windows XP rather than more resource-intensive operating systems like Windows Vista as they have less processing power than traditional laptops.
Rugged Laptop- for rough and tough use
Panasonic Toughbook in use by U.S. Navy 
Panasonic Toughbook CF-M34 Design feature-The design features found in rugged laptops include rubber sheeting under the keyboard keys, sealed port and connector covers, passive cooling, superbright displays easily readable in daylight, cases and frames made of magnesium alloys or have a magnesium alloy rollcage that are much stronger than plastic found in commercial laptops and solid-state storage devices or hard disc drives that are shock mounted to withstand constant vibrations.
User-Rugged laptops are commonly used by public safety services (police, fire and medical emergency), military, utilities, field service technicians, construction, mining and oil drilling personnel. Rugged laptops are usually sold to organizations, rather than individuals, and are rarely marketed via retail channels.
