Once in a while I hear a myth on the internet about Rockwell manufactured the KIM-1. That myth needs to be debunked.

Rockwell did sell KIM-1s as an OEM product around 1977. They bought the KIM-1 PCB, made in a Commodore factory and put a sticker on the right corner, covering the Commodore MOS logo and text, as you can see in the image below.

The documentation such as KIM-1 User Manual and the Circuit Poster were given a new front and back, the contents of the User Manual were 99% coming verbatim from MOS Technology/Commodore. The Programming and Hardware Manual were later (and better) versions of the MOS Technology documents, no trace of the 6501!

I can proof this, in 1978 I bought a KIM-1 from a Dutch distributor Famatra and still have it. It was a Rockwell package. Here you see photos of my Rockwell KIM-1 package labeled as Rockwell but it really is a Commodore MOS Technology product rebranded. It did not take long before Rockwell started to sell the AIM 65 as replacement and I never saw advertisements not a Databook with a Rockwell KIM-1 in it.

The Rockwell KIM-1 User Manual is scanned by me and available on the KIM-1 and MOS Technology manuals page, as are (later versions of) the Rockwell Hardware and Programming manual. I might scan these Rev 0 versions one day also.

See the page of me and my KIM-1 for my first KIM-1 and its history.

You can see the text Commodore and MOS logo shining trough underneath the Rockwell sticker. And the number SC1276 gives away it was manufactured in the Santa Clara Commdore factory.