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- K4X ROM upgrade for '84 Kaypros by Barry A. Cole 13MAR88
- -------------------------------------------------
- INTRODUCTION:
- This is a public announcement of a major set of enhancements for Kaypro
- '84 model CP/M computers. An upgrade to the EPROM with disk and
- instructions sells for $50 +6.5% CA tax. A full 10MB internal
- subsystem sells for $275 + tax. I believe this is easily the fastest
- and lowest cost enhancements you can buy if you own any of this series
- of machines. I am active on this RCPM and also on betaline(213-313-2549),
- if you would like further information.
-
- COMPATIBILITY:
- The K4X EPROM is a direct replacement for the program EPROM in all '84
- model CP/M Kaypro computers. These are easily identified by the presence
- of 2 serial ports on the back panel. This will replace the program EPROM,
- and is therefore mutually exclusive of other upgrades such as the Advent
- turborom.
-
- INSTALLATION:
- 1. Unplug your machine!
- 2. Remove 10 phillips head screws from top and sides of your Kaypro.
- 3. Remove cover.
- 4. Locate socket in center of board(usually U34), that contains your present
- EPROM. Pry out of socket and place in supplied conductive foam.
- 5. Insert supplied EPROM/socket combination. Notch faces the left side of
- the board as you face the front of the computer.
- 6. Attach the connected clip to the Z80 chip pin 3(U43). This chip is
- just in front of the EPROM socket.
- 7. Power up the computer and look for the boot message on the screen.
- 8. If that works, replace the lid, otherwise power down and recheck
- your installation.
-
- GENERAL SALES PITCH:
- I developed this product to allow easy interchange of diskettes between
- my '83 and '84 Kaypros. I added disk diagnostics, faster screen access,
- drivers for 2 10Mb or one 20Mb winchester, and Advent RAM disk, and lots of
- other convenience and performance features. I've built a non-proprietary
- superset of the CP/M operating system and put the whole system into
- the ROM. This allows a very fast reboot and eliminates the requirement
- of having a system image on the disk.
-
- FEATURES:
- 1. Original 6 built in commands(DIR,ERA,REN,TYPE,SAVE,USER) supported.
- 2. Additional commands are supported:
- LIST file.typ sends a file to the printer
- GO re-executes previously loaded .COM file
- GET adr file.typ loads program into memory
- JUMP adr executes program at specified address
- SAFE sets hard disk to safety area(harmless on floppy system)
- DISK a built in copy, era, etc utility
- D alphabetized directory including file sizes
- D $ or D *.typ $ same as above but ALL user areas
- BOOT boots from your floppy in drive A:
- NORM sets into protected mode, most commands are disabled.
- This is used to run a BBS or similar.
- PASS passwd undoes effect of NORM-this is default mode
- 3. Full drive user format of commands is allowed. Semicolon may be
- substituted for colon. The following are valid commands:
- a: A: B9; 7; USER 7
- A>9:COMNAME B2:PARMFILE
- 4. All numeric parameters may be followed by an H to express in hexadecimal
- e.g. SAVE 3BH FILE.TYP
- 5. SAVE and REN commands will request confirmation if the file exists.
- 6. The current user number is reported. e.g. A5>
- 7. ERAsed files are displayed.
- 8. TYPE command pauses for a key press each screen full. A control C
- terminates the TYPE prematurely.
- 9. If a .COM file is not found, drive A: is searched. User 0 is searched
- after current user area. Drive C: will be used instead of A: if a
- hard disk is present.
- 10. Disk drives are not logged in until accessed. You can boot with NO
- disk in any drive!
- 11. Automatic disk logging occurs on bad writes. No ^C is needed!
- 12. A diagnostic message is presented for selects of a non-existent
- disk drive. Aborting does not require a reset!
- 13. The system boots any disk-even cardboard.
- 14. Screen dump to a parallel printer is supported at all times by ^_p
- 15. Screen clear including the cursor is supported at att times by ^_c
- 16. Logging in a disk drive such as in NEWSWEEP automatically selects
- between single and double sided drive!
- 17. Disk access and error recovery is much faster.
- 18. Disk errors are reported on the screen:
- DISKERR RB T=01 S=04 /SEC NOT FOUND/DRQ/
- reports an error reading from drive B, track 1, sector 4
- 19. Both 83 and 84 Kaypro screen codes are supported. Programs like
- Perfect Filer will now run on this machine without change!
- 20. Two 10MB drives are supported in addition to 2 floppies with the proper
- host adapter , controller, and drive. A complete 10MB upgrade is
- available from Barry for $275.
- 21. Fatal bugs in the U rom are corrected.
- 22. Drive order may be remapped by setting a table at location bios+80H
- 23. The cursor and numeric keypad keys can each generate 1 or two
- keystrokes. The supplied program KEYS.ASM and KEYS.COM will allow
- the user up to four sets of choices.
- 24. A full system runs in a 63K system. A 2 floppy plus RAMDISK
- runs in a 64K system. This allows more space for your programs.
-
-
- Disk error reporting:
- Disk errors are reported as follows:
- DISKERR: RB T=03 S=40 /SEC NOT FOUND/DRQ/
- Following the colon is a R for reading or W for writing
- Then the track and sector number are reported.
- Error types are separated by slashes.
- WRT PROT - disk is write protected(need to remove tab)
- CRC - data is improperly written. This may be a
- bad diskette, drive going out of allignment,
- or mishandling of the diskette. If this
- message recurs, try another brand of diskette!
- SEC NOT FOUND - System is trying to access a sector past the
- bounds of the disk or diskette is not formatted
- properly. This may also occur if you switched
- between a Kaypro 2 and Kaypro 4 disk without ^C.
- DRQ - Data request indicates that the sector size was
- not the expected length. This is generally
- bad formatting.
- LOST DATA - This is RARE. It denotes a major failure in
- the computer's disk controller or in the drive.
-
- Errors on reading or writing are retried 8 times. The system has
- recovered if no BDOS error is reported.
-
- e drive.
-
- Errors on reading or writing