Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982
Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982
Commodore 64 于 1982 年 9 月 1 日发布
On September 1, 1982, the Commodore 64 launched. Its name referred to the amount of memory it had on board: 64 kilobytes. And it was the first computer with 64K of memory to sell for under $600. 1982 年 9 月 1 日，Commodore 64 正式发布。它的名字源于其内置的内存容量：64 KB。它是第一台内存达到 64 KB 且售价低于 600 美元的计算机。
When the C-64 first shipped is a bit of a mystery. Commodore showed prototypes at the January 1982 Consumer Electronics Show, but these weren’t production-ready models yet. Some engineers quoted in Brian Bagnall’s books say they shipped some units in August. Michael Tomczyk’s book, The Home Computer Wars, says it launched September 1. Given that Tomczyk was writing in 1984, not long after the actual launch, I’m inclined to think Tomczyk’s date is correct. Why the discrepancy? Commodore wasn’t selling direct. So if they intended to sell any machines on September 1, they had to ship the first units in August. C-64 最初的出货时间至今仍是个谜。Commodore 在 1982 年 1 月的消费电子展（CES）上展示了原型机，但那还不是量产型号。布莱恩·巴格诺尔（Brian Bagnall）书中所引用的几位工程师表示，他们在 8 月份就出货了一些设备。而迈克尔·汤姆奇克（Michael Tomczyk）在《家庭计算机战争》（The Home Computer Wars）一书中则称其于 9 月 1 日发布。考虑到汤姆奇克是在 1984 年（即发布后不久）撰写的该书，我倾向于认为他的日期是准确的。为什么会有出入？因为 Commodore 当时并不直接销售产品。所以，如果他们打算在 9 月 1 日进行销售，就必须在 8 月份将首批产品发往经销商。
Commodore built the initial units in Santa Clara, Calif., but ran into quality control problems, so they outsourced production to a Japanese company called Kentron. Kentron was mass producing C-64s by January 1983. Commodore 最初在加利福尼亚州圣克拉拉生产这些设备，但遇到了质量控制问题，于是将生产外包给了一家名为 Kentron 的日本公司。到 1983 年 1 月，Kentron 已经实现了 C-64 的大规模生产。
Within six months, they’d sold half a million units. And it quickly went up from there. By the end of its fiscal 1984 years, Commodore had sold about 5 million units. 在六个月内，他们就售出了 50 万台。此后销量迅速攀升。到 1984 财年结束时，Commodore 总共售出了约 500 万台。
It became the best selling computer of all time, selling about 12.3 million units. Or, if you count the C-128 as a separate product, the C-64 alone sold about 10.6 million units. 它成为了史上最畅销的计算机，总销量约为 1230 万台。如果将 C-128 视为独立产品，那么仅 C-64 的销量就达到了约 1060 万台。
It was the computer I grew up with, and invariably, when I join a videoconference from my basement, where I have a C-64 hanging on my wall behind me, someone my age will say something about it, that they had one, or remember using one. 这是我成长过程中陪伴我的计算机。每当我从地下室参加视频会议时，背景墙上挂着的 C-64 总会引起注意，和我同龄的人总会提起它，说他们曾经拥有过，或者记得使用它的经历。
Its early success was no accident but its staying power was. By modern standards, it wasn’t cheap. Even in 1984, when we got one, the computer with a disk drive typically cost $450 unless you really shopped around. But the only other thing comparable both price-wise and capability-wise at the time was an Atari 800XL, and Atari was having supply chain problems in 1983, so it was a lot easier to find a Commodore 64 that year. 它早期的成功并非偶然，但其持久的生命力却出人意料。以现代标准来看，它并不便宜。即使在 1984 年我们购买时，除非精挑细选，否则一台带磁盘驱动器的计算机通常要价 450 美元。但当时在价格和性能上唯一能与之媲美的只有 Atari 800XL，而 Atari 在 1983 年遇到了供应链问题，因此那一年购买 Commodore 64 要容易得多。
Commodore expected both the VIC-20 and C-64 to have a shelf life of around 3 years. They were about right in the case of the VIC-20, but the C-64 kept selling about 700,000 units a year through the end of the decade and was still hanging on in 1993. It wasn’t selling well in 1993, mind you, and Commodore didn’t want to be making them by then. But there was still demand for them, and Commodore in 1993 wasn’t in a position to say no to a sale. Commodore 原本预计 VIC-20 和 C-64 的生命周期约为 3 年。对于 VIC-20 来说，这个预测基本准确，但 C-64 在整个 80 年代末每年仍能保持约 70 万台的销量，甚至在 1993 年依然在售。当然，1993 年时它的销量已经不佳，Commodore 当时也不想再生产它了。但市场上仍有需求，而 1993 年的 Commodore 已经没有拒绝订单的资本了。
Why the C-64 had staying power: The C-64 went through plenty of compromises to reach its price point. But they got the mix of compromises just about right. The disk drive was slower than it needed to be, largely because of a last-second design change. Its modem support was pretty limited too, but there wasn’t a lot of demand for modems yet in 1982. But it had 16-color graphics at a resolution of 160×200 or 320×200. The lower resolution mode gave you more flexibility with how you used the colors. It also had 8 sprites, which was very useful for game programming. C-64 为何能保持持久的生命力：C-64 为了达到那个价格点做出了许多妥协，但这些妥协的平衡点把握得恰到好处。磁盘驱动器的速度比预想的要慢，这主要是因为最后一刻的设计变更。它的调制解调器支持也非常有限，但在 1982 年，人们对调制解调器的需求并不大。不过，它拥有 16 色图形显示能力，分辨率为 160×200 或 320×200。较低的分辨率模式在使用颜色时提供了更大的灵活性。它还拥有 8 个精灵（sprites），这对游戏编程非常有用。
The sound chip was a compromise. Its designer, Bob Yannes, was both an engineer and a musician. The chip he wanted to design would have been impressive for 1992, let alone 1982. He built the elements he needed, then replicated them until he ran out of room on the silicon wafer. He ran out of room at three voices, so the C-64 had three-voice sound. Some competing designs had four, but the 64’s SID chip had more flexibility with the volume of each channel, and could produce more complex sound waves than competing chips from General Instrument and Texas Instruments could. 声音芯片也是一种妥协。其设计师鲍勃·扬内斯（Bob Yannes）既是工程师也是音乐家。他原本想设计的芯片即使放在 1992 年也会令人印象深刻，更不用说 1982 年了。他构建了所需的元素，然后不断复制，直到硅片空间耗尽。他在三个声部时空间用尽，因此 C-64 拥有三声部音效。一些竞争对手的设计有四个声部，但 C-64 的 SID 芯片在每个通道的音量控制上更具灵活性，并且能产生比通用仪器（General Instrument）和德州仪器（Texas Instruments）的竞争芯片更复杂的声波。
Creative programmers could coax impressive video and audio effects out of the C-64 beyond what its designers imagined in 1982. So even as the machine aged late in the decade, there was still interesting new software being released for it. By then, there were much more powerful computers on the market, but for a while that helped the C-64, as artists could develop graphical assets on one of those other computers using more powerful software, then move them to the C-64. 富有创造力的程序员能够从 C-64 中挖掘出超越 1982 年设计者想象的惊人视听效果。因此，即使在 80 年代末机器已经老化时，仍有有趣的新软件为它发布。到那时，市场上已经有了功能强大得多的计算机，但这在一段时间内反而帮助了 C-64，因为艺术家们可以在那些功能更强大的计算机上使用更先进的软件开发图形资源，然后再将其移植到 C-64 上。
How the Commodore 64 affected me, personally: My story with the C-64 is a familiar one. I learned how to program it a little using Basic and 6502 assembly language. By the time I was 12, I knew how to take one apart and do simple repairs. And by the time I was a teenager, I could run a sector editor and recover data from corrupted disks, edit saved game files to make video games easier, and I will neither confirm nor deny cracking some games that used code wheels for copy protection. I knew how. I did my first writing for large audiences on a C-64 too. Commodore 64 对我个人的影响：我和 C-64 的故事很典型。我学会了使用 Basic 和 6502 汇编语言进行简单的编程。到 12 岁时，我已经知道如何拆解它并进行简单的维修。到了青少年时期，我能够运行扇区编辑器从损坏的磁盘中恢复数据，编辑存档文件以降低游戏难度，至于我是否破解过那些使用密码轮进行防拷贝保护的游戏，我既不承认也不否认。但我确实知道怎么做。我第一次为大众撰写的文章也是在 C-64 上完成的。
Everyone assumed I’d do something computer-related for a living when I got older. A lot of us did. Decades later, I run into people I knew from the local C-64 scene, and they’re working in IT like me. 每个人都认为我长大后会从事与计算机相关的工作。我们中的许多人确实如此。几十年后，我遇到了当年在当地 C-64 圈子里认识的朋友，他们现在和我一样都在从事 IT 工作。
Jack Tramiel, the CEO of Commodore when the C-64 launched, loved hearing those kinds of stories. A Gen Xer would walk up to him, talk about how growing up with a C-64 led to a career in technology, and then Tramiel would always say something like, “And you look very successful, I’m thrilled to hear it!” C-64 发布时 Commodore 的首席执行官杰克·特拉米尔（Jack Tramiel）非常喜欢听这类故事。当 X 世代的人走到他面前，讲述 C-64 如何引导他们走上科技职业道路时，特拉米尔总是会说：“你看上去非常成功，听到这些我太高兴了！”
I never had a chance to say that to Jack, but I did have a chance to thank one of his sons, Leonard. Leonard Tramiel was just as gracious. 我从未有机会对杰克说这些，但我确实有机会感谢了他的儿子伦纳德（Leonard）。伦纳德·特拉米尔同样非常亲切。
It wasn’t just games. That was the great thing about the C-64. 它不仅仅是游戏机。这就是 C-64 最伟大的地方。