• Tag Archives Kaypro
  • Pro/Files (September/October 1983)

    Source: Pro/Files – Volume 1, Number 2 – September/October 1983

    Pro/Files was an official Kaypro publication that covered their computers. Kaypro initially built portable CP/M based computers designed to compete with Osbourne. Later they built PC compatibles but they didn’t survive long after that. The September/October 1983 issue includes:

    Departments

    • Letters – Lots of praise for the previous issue which was the first. Also, questions about the Kaypro 4 and Kaypro 10, and more.
    • Q & A – Questions answered about moving stuff over from Apple II computers, diagnosing hardware problems, using a tape punch with the Kaypro, heat related problems, CRT problems, S-BASIC, and more.
    • Intro – Creating a Kaypro user group in Portland.
    • Take Off – An article about creating your own software to fill a need. And maybe you can even sell it.
    • Satire – All about Anthroperipheral Interface Errors (A.I.E.). Sounds related to problems that occur between the chair and the keyboard or ID10T errors…
    • Groups – A bit about User Groups plust a listing of several Kaypro related groups around the country.

    Features

    • Business – Technophobia and introducing a computer into the workplace for the first time.
    • CP/M – An article about PIP which stands for Peripheral Interchange Program. Basically, this was a standard CP/M utility for piping data and could be use to print, copy stuff to disk, etc.
    • Help – Perfect Writer and WordStar and how to move files between them.
    • Care – Cleaning disk drives. Why you may need to clean the heads plus what to use and how to do so.
    • Novice – Part two of a series on programming languages. This part discusses structured programming languages and techniques. Examples are given in BASIC, Pascal, and C.
    • Women and Computers – In 1983 95% of the buyers of computers were men. However, there were a far greater share of women actually using computers in the workplace.

    …and more!


  • The VersaBusiness Series (Commodore 64)

    commodore_microcomputer_issue_40_1986_mar_apr-025


    Source: Commodore MicroComputer – Issue 40 – March April 1986

    The Commodore 64 had a reputation for being a games machine and thus was often not taken very seriously but for at least the first several years of its life there were a number of productivity titles and even professional business software available.

    This particular ad is from the March/April 1986 issue of Commodore MicroComputer and is for the VersaBusiness Series. This includes VersaReceivables, VersaPayables, VeraPayroll, VersaInventory, and VersaLedger II. I can’t claim to know anything about this software or what the difference was between the different versions for different machines but it was available for a lot of them including Apple II, DOS, CP/M, Macintosh, TRS-80, and of course the Commodore 64. It wasn’t cheap, $550 if you wanted it all, but they were running a special 50% discount for the Commodore version in this ad so you could have had them all for the low, low prices of $225.