Half-bright (dim) and underline color

The linux consoles on two machines behave differently.

On machine #1 I can't set the colors independently. Both colors are the same and when changing one of them, the other changes, too.

On machine #2 both colors are independent.

Since machine #1 has an older kernel than #2, was there a kernel change sometime?

Both machines use fbcon (inteldrmfb).