We take a look through the differences, bugs, and fixes of the C64 KERNAL operating system ROM through the years, from the original silver label C64 through to the 64C, to the SX-64, Educator 64, the Japanese C64, the C64GS, and more.
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Great list of differences by Marko Mäkelä:
http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/firmware/computers/c64/revisions.txt
Another list of differences:
http://commodore64.se/wiki/index.php/Commodore_64_KERNAL_ROM_versions
Lots of firmware to try on your EasyFlash 3:
http://www.zimmers.net/anonftp/pub/cbm/firmware/computers/c64/
Credits music by: https://bedfordlevelexperiment.bandcamp.com
Further info/errata:
Quite a few people have pointed out that the screen clearing behaviour in KERNAL v2 was actually to help hide the "screen sparkle" problem that former Commodore engineer Bil Herd describes in this video around
15:45:
https://youtu.be/-Zpv6u5vCJ4?t=946
Rob Clarke says:
Your experiments with the 4064 kernal would not work that way on the real machine. There is no color RAM, so you cannot change the text colour, the board is hard-wired to only return white. Also, the Educator 64 and 4064 are fundamentally different machines. The Educator is a normal 64 with a SID and a monitor that can display different luma levels, ie. "shades of green". The 4064 is a standard PET monitor, so the video signal is either on or off, so true monochrome, no shades at all.
Index:
0:00 Intro - KERNAL revision differences
1:13 KERNAL v1: Silver Label C64
7:25 KERNAL v2: My first C64 & More
12:34 KERNAL v3 (final) on a breadbin
14:57 Commodore SX-64
17:09 64C + EasyFlash 3
17:48 PET 4064 / Educator 64
20:53 Japanese C64
24:02 Turkish, Swedish, Danish KERNALs
26:28 C64 Games System
28:20 Thanks!