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ADVENT PRODUCTS
'84 TURBO ROM v3.4
(c) 1985, Plu*Perfect Systems

62,50K CP/M - TURBO-BIOS

The TurboROM is a replacement EPROM for use in all Kaypro computers that use the CP/M operating system. A complete set of software utilities and this manual are included with the TurboROM. The TurboROM provides the following major benefits to your Kaypro:
1. Disk Speed Improvements: 2X to 4X speed improvements on all disk writes (both hard and floppy disk drives). Optional disk formats are supported that provide significant improvements in disk read, disk write, random file access, and additional directory entries.
2. Kaypro 10 CP/M System Size and Hard Disk Capacity: CP/M size increase from the standard 60K to over 63K. Formatted hard disk capacity increase from 9 megabytes to over 11 megabytes, depending on the format used to reformat the drive.
From: Advent TurboROM - Plu*Perfect - Manual

The problem with the KayPLUS ROM (MICROCode) has not left me alone. Simply annoying! But there is another ROM for the Kaypro 10: Advent TurboROM from Plu*Perfect. No sooner said than done. And what can I say, it works. But everything in turn ...

But first take a close look at the manual (see below). Here everything is described in detail; it worked for me right away! And the nice thing is, you can, but you do not have to reformat your existing hard drive! Unless you have a 10/84 with Universal ROM, then you have to.

If you have a Kaypro 10/83, then of course you need the 4K to 8K ROM mod as described here: 4K to 8K EPROM Modification. If you have the necessary parts, then you the modification is done in a maximum of half an hour.

The release notes for version 3.4 (see below) state that the first TurboROM version was released in November 1985. However, this cannot be the case, because the next advertising for TurboROM already appeared in the March 1985 issue of the PROFILES magazine.

I have the picture only, but no ROM file dump of version 3.A!

According to the RELEASE notes below version 3.4 must have been launched in August 1986. Prior versions distributed were 2.6, 2.9 and 3.0.

So far I have been able to find the ROM versions „83' v3.4" and „84' v3.4" on the Internet. There should also be a version v3.4 for the Kaypro 10, but I don't have it. I have therefore used variant (84') and so far I have had no problems in my Kaypro 10('83).

I have just (10/2024) got my Kaypro 10/83 up and running again with an ST-225 because the ST-277 I was previously using no longer started. A few bits have probably flipped since the last time it was used three years ago. Unfortunately, there's nothing that can be done. These old hard disks don't get any better!

All that glitters is not gold!

The advertising reads very well, but there are a few pitfalls hidden here. In principle, the TurboROM supports a second floppy disk drives, but you already need the so-called Personality Decoder Board.

Two different Personality/Decoders are available, one for use with Kaypros which have one serial port ('83 models), and the other for use with Kaypros which have two serial ports (10 '83 & '84 models).

The Personality/Decoder can be used with the Kaypro 10 and the TurboROM to allow the installation of a second floppy drive or the use of 96 TPI drives.

The Personality/Decoder Board simply plugs into the Kaypro. No soldering or permanent changes to the Kaypro main board are required for installation.

From: Advent TurboROM - Plu*Perfect - Manual, E.2

Here is an explanation (by Douglas Miller) why operating two floppy drives with one hard disk is problematic. It is the drive select signal.

For the PRO-8 or PRO-884 ROM from Micro Cornucopia there is the PLUS4 Decoder Board. For the Advent TurboROM this is called Personality Decoder Board, see above. Different name, same purpose!

Please note that a temporary 56K CP/M version is required for the installation. When everything is ready, it can be optimized to the maximum available memory. This is described in chapter 2.5 of the manual.

Essentially, the installation consists of three steps:

1. MAKTURBO
• Utility to build a relocatable version TurboROM operating system image. This utility produces the file TURBOSYS.PRL.
2. MOVTURBO
• This utility is a replacement for the MOVCPM.COM program. MOVTURBO is used to produce operating systems of fixed sizes for use with TURBOGEN.
3. TURBOGEN
• This utility is a replacement for the SYSGEN.COM program. TURBOGEN is used to copy operating system images.

If you have a Kaypro 10, follow the step-by-step instructions in Chapter 3. It's really very simple! Basically you need of course an EPROM programmer and as already said the EPROM modification from 4K to 8K. I used an ATMEL AT28C64B for the ROM and with a Batronix Barlino II 32P.

Formatting the hard disk: --> Go to Part 3: Formatting a Kaypro 10 Hard Disk Drive.

Adding the Advent TurboROM to a Kaypro 10
by Benjamin H. Cohen

I recently acquired a Kaypro 10 to add to my stable of Osbornes. I had heard through the grapevine that the Advent TurboROM was a big improvement over the Kaypro furnished ROM which has been described as a 'dinosaur'. I got the 10 on a Saturday and ordered the TurboROM the following Monday.

Installation was easy. If I had eight fewer thumbs and was comfortable soldering wires on computer boards it would have been cheaper. For certain models you need either to order a $9.95 kit from Advent or solder a wire. For other models the kit has other parts. In any event, I ordered the kit. The removal of the main chip was simpIe. The adapter wire slips over one leg of the replacement chip and hooks onto a leg of another chip. The manual and instructions are generally excellent but didn't tell that you simply squeeze the two ends of the plastic thig-a-mabob attached at one end of the wire to expose the hook, stick it on the indicated leg of the chip, then release and let the spring inside hold on.

Before you do this you read essentially the entire manual. I really mean that. If you don't read the manual first you'll find you're in a real pickle. You must, among other things, make a couple of disks up before you install the TR. If you haven't you'll have problems. One of the disks is the boot disk for the TR. The other is a boot disk to reboot your system with the old ROM if you should ever be so misguided as to remove the TR and put the old one back in.

I haven't explored all of the features of the TR yet, but there are enough to make my $69.90 ($59.95 for the TR, $9.95 for the adapter kit) a real bargain.

My hard disk has been reformatted with the Advent 512 byte sector format. From about 8.9 megabytes my disk capacity has jumped to 10.3 Mb. Advent also provides a 1024 byte sector format, but some older drives won't format to that. If you have a newer drive you'll probably be able to use it you'll get a 11 Mb disk.

ZCPR1 is resident in the new system. I've mentioned this before for Osborne owners. If you're still using vanilla-CP/M 2.2 you ought to get ZCPR1 at the very least. It has three important features: (a) echo of names of erased files, that is, whenever you erase a file or a bunch of files, even using wild cards, a list of the erased files is put on the screen so you can unerases the one you really didn't want to erase but forgot were there and met the argument of the command; (b) automatic search to drive A: for commands not found on the logged drive; and (c) the intrinsic "go" command to rerun the last transient file used from memory without the need to get it from the disk again.

Several disk formats are read as 'native', most importantly for me, Osborne SSDD format. This means I can work on files on the Kaypro, stick an Osborne disk in the floppy drive, do a warm boot (hit ^C), run NSWP or any other program that I want to copy the tile to the Osborne disk, and continue. Until I stick a different format disk in the floppy drive and do a warm boot the Kaypro will expect to find Osborne SSDD disks there. Since I have a lot of Osbornes around at home and in my law office, this is a great convenience.

Disk drive read/write speed is greatly increased. I didn't make any timed tests before installing the TR, but the time for disk reads and writes is clearly less than half what it used to be. It's a matter of perception, since I have not timed it, but I still think the Trantor on my office Executive is faster. But I now perceive it as faster than an Executive with two floppies only (I didn't before).

When I got my Drive C: RAM disk someone told me that in general if you got a RAM disk first you would like it more than a hard disk but that if you got a hard disk first you'd like it more than a RAM disk. I'm not sure that's correct. The simple fact is that RAM disks are different than hard disks. If you need [or crave] sheer speed and generally work with a limited number of programs and data files, then a RAM disk is probably what you want. If it's more important that you have at your fingertips every application and utility program you might want at any time this month, or if you work with many different files during the course of a single computing session, then a hard disk will have many attractions to you. It's faster than floppies, but nowhere near as fast as a RAM disk.

The best of all possible worlds, of course, is to combine the benefits of both RAM disk and hard disk. I'm looking forward to justifying the purchase of the High Tech Research Ultra Board (see separate article in this issue of PIP) to add to my Kaypro 10. Maybe then I'll be as happy as Kevin Murphy! (See Kevin's article about his Kaypro 2X also in this issue!)

From: CFOG's PIP, July 1987, Volume 5 No. 9, Whole No. 57, page 1
(CFOG - Chicago's First Osborne Group" later "Chicago's Finest User Group")

Advent Products should still have upgrade products for Kaypros. They sell the TurboROM for $60, which knows about DSDD (and 96 tpi) drives. They also sell a drive decoder board that adds the additional logic for double-sided drives (also allows up to four drives) -- it goes for $40. I believe the TurboROM manual has instructions on how to add the side select circuit yourself, too. Advent's number is 714-630-8172. By the way, Bridger Mitchell's company, Plu*Perfect Systems apparently wrote both the TurboROM code and the Turbo BIOS code. I have no relationship with Advent or Plu*Perfect -- I just think that they have darned good products that work together. My Kaypro 2X has Advent's TurboROM, host-adapter, 1 Meg RAM disk, real-time clock, Western Digital WD-1002-005 hard disk controller and a Seagate ST-138-1 (30 meg) hard drive. I am using NZCOM and ZSDOS, and it all works. I also have a MicroSphere Color Graphics board in it, but that's another story...

Author: Jeffrey Wieland #Fri, 09 Nov 1990 00:53:42#

• Advent TurboROM - Manual V3.4 (1986)(txt)
• Advent TurboROM - Release Notes V3.4 (txt)
• Advertisement - Year and source unknown, here you will find additional information.
• Adding a 2nd hard disk drive to your Kaypro 10 (pdf, source unknown)
• Adding a 2nd hard disk drive to your Kaypro 10 (txt, source unknown)
• Advent TurboROM - Theory of Operation (txt, source unknown)

• Advent TurboROM v3.4 with '83 and '84 ROM's.
• Modifications for the TurboROM system
• Patches for the TurboROM system (Among others for the MasterMenu and Wordstar)

--> Go to Part 0 : Information
--> Go to Part 1 : Versions
--> Go to Part 2 : Hardware
--> Go to Part 3 : 8K EPROM Modification
--> Go to Part 4 : Formatting a Hard Disk
--> Go to Part 5 : USER areas
--> Go to Part 6 : MASMENU - Master Menu
--> Go to Part 7 : Terminal
--> Go to Part 8 : KayPLUS ROM
--> Go to Part 9 : Advent TurboROM
--> Go to Part 10: Multicopy Plu*Perfect
--> Go to Part 11: The Kay Family & Company
--> Go to Part 12: Kaypro Design Views
--> Go to Part 13: Micro Cornucopia
--> Go to Part 14: Repairing a Kaypro II
--> Go to Part 15: Kaypro Collections
--> Go to Part 16: Kaypro General
--> Go to Part 17: Kaypro Robie
--> Go to Part 18: MFM-Emulators
--> Go to Part 19: Roadrunner ROM
--> Go to Part 20: Software
--> Go to Part 21: FAQ
--> Go to Part 22: Kaypro Virtual
--> Go to Part 23: Formatting a Floppy Disk
--> Go to Part 24: ROM, EPROM
--> Go to Part 25: Kaycomp