KERNAL of Truth
Description
KERNAL of Truth. Dan’s MEGA65 Digest for June 2024.
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KERNAL of Truth
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Pallets of MEGA65 parts, courtesy Trenz Electronic
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The Summer of MEGA65 begins! The latest delivery batch is in progress, and many preorder holders are receiving their new favorite computer.
If you’re new to this Digest, welcome! Here you’ll find news about the MEGA65 and community projects, and interactive feature articles of things you can try for yourself. Read the Digest while next to your MEGA65 and PC for the best experience.
Also, every Digest has a read-aloud audio edition. Click the audio player at the top of the email or website, or subscribe to “Dan’s MEGA65 Digest” in your podcast player. I don’t know how many people listen to it, but I enjoy making it.
In this Digest, we’ll start taking a look at the MEGA65 KERNAL, the main operating system of the computer. We’ll build off of last month’s discussion of interrupts and the CPU memory map, and try writing a MEGA65 version of a classic KERNAL extension: a desktop time-of-day clock.
Let’s get started!
Batch #3 is arriving!
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MEGA65s being tested, courtesy Trenz Electronic
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MEGA65 home computers are now arriving with their new owners! Trenz Electronic has begun sending out the third manufacturing batch, and will continue to fulfill pre-orders steadily. Congrats and welcome to everyone receiving a new bundle of joy!
Back in January, we were able to confirm with Trenz that this manufacturing batch will be large enough to cover all preorders placed up to that point. I continue to use that as a conservative estimate. New preorders placed in the last few months may need to wait a bit longer—or maybe not. For all we know, Trenz may be able to make quick work of another batch and get everyone taken care of. Rest assured that everyone involved in this project wants you to have a MEGA65 as soon as possible.
Of course, you can still order the MEGA65 if you haven’t already. Tell your friends!
MEGA65 at the Pacific Commodore Expo Northwest, June 22-23, 2024
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Pacific Commodore Expo Northwest.
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If you’re near Seattle, Washington, USA this month, I will be presenting the MEGA65 at the Pacific Commodore Expo Northwest, June 22-23, 2024. Admission is free. The space is cozy and filled with Commodores, and this year we have access to additional space for presentations. I’ll have my MEGA65 at a table all weekend for people to try.
I gave a talk on the MEGA65 at last year’s PaCommEx NW that went reasonably well, despite being hastily planned. Here’s hoping that I’ll have this year’s talk figured out in time. 😬
The Silent Enigma
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The Silent Enigma, by Gurce
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The Silent Enigma is a new demo by Gurce, based on the song by Anathema. Gurce wrote the demo in BASIC 65 with the Eleven IDE, with assembly language helper routines in Mega Assembler and Acme, and an extended version of grim-fandango’s MEGAPLOT library.
The current version of the demo requires customized versions of the MEGA65 core and ROM to run on MEGA65 hardware. Gurce discovered a need for a new feature of the KERNAL for combining BASIC and machine code routines, and also discovered a core bug while getting it to work. We’re working on getting these improvements into the core platform. In the meantime, Gurce is distributing modified core and ROM files with the demo.
Check out retroComb’s video debuting The Silent Enigma, along with an interview with Gurce. And don’t miss the Eleven and assembly language source files included on the disk!
Lala The Magical (preview)
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Lala the Magical (preview) for the MEGA65, by Majikeyric
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Majikeyric is previewing a new game for the MEGA65! Lala the Magical (preview) is an adorable puzzle platformer, with parallax scrolling areas and tons of enemies and collectibles. It’s based on the PC DOS game by the Mojon Twins.
In the ancient ruins (province of Badajoz) lives Lala with her teacher. She is learning magic but still has a long way to go.
“Tell me about the Sky Palace” – asks Lala, and her teacher tells her again about the three Power Gems hidden inside. “I’d love to see them”, but Lala’s teacher would say no… “It’s too dangerous, and powerful magic is required to traverse the palace”.
You can play the preview with a joystick. Sound, music, and polish are in progress. I’m looking forward to the final product!
Wonder Boy core
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Wonder Boy, arcade core by muse
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muse continues his series of arcade cores with Wonder Boy. This colorful side-runner will have you running, jumping, and even skateboarding across the landscape, collecting fruit and dodging creatures.
This core is available for both R3 (2022) and R6 (2024) MEGA65s. Be sure to use the correct version for your system, and follow the installation instructions.
Arcade cores use the MEGA65’s FPGA to fully recreate arcade game chipsets with a high degree of accuracy. Thanks to muse for his continued dedication to the arcade core library!
The role of the KERNAL
In computer architecture, the kernel is the center of a computer’s operating system. It manages access to hardware such as the keyboard, storage devices, and peripherals, as well as other common facilities. Programs—including the rest of the operating system—access these facilities by interacting with the kernel.
The Commodore KERNAL has played this role in Commodore 8-bit computers all the way back to the Commodore PET. The proper name, spelled with an “A” and all uppercase, is credited to an honest misspelling of the word “kernel” by developer Robert Russell that made its way into the VIC-20 programmer’s manual. While the KERNAL has evolved substantially across the line all the way up to the Commodore 65, its role in the computer and many of its key features and interfaces have remained largely the same since 1977.
In total, a Commodore computer’s operating system consists of the KERNAL, the BASIC interpreter, and the screen editor. The machine code for the operating system is etched into a ROM chip, wired to be the first thing the CPU sees when it wakes up. If the KERNAL detects that a C64-style cartridge is connected, it passes control to the cartridge. Otherwise, the KERNAL starts the screen editor, from which the user can load and run programs, type other commands, or start programming in BASIC. These three components tend to share some responsibilities, and the distinctions between them can be a bit blurry in some places, but that’s the general idea.
(There’s an interesting historical exception to the start-up procedure. The Comm
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