Apple Macintosh 128k |
Apple Computers, Inc., 1984 |
CPU: Motorola 68000 @ 8MHz Memory: 128 KB Operating system: 1.0., 1.1, 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.2 Drives: 400KB floppy drive, 3.5-inch Screen: 512x342 |
Initially just called Macintosh, it was the first Apple computer bearing the Macintosh name. The introduction of the 128k in 1984 was accompanied by a TV commercial featuring an orwellian depiction of IBM. One of the first tools for "dynamic display of multivariate data" MacSpin ran on the 128k. Finally there appeared a Fortran interpreter for the Mac that was used for plotting the averaged shifted histogram (ASH) on this computer. However, by the time this tool appeared the Mac Plus and Mac SE models were already available both with hard disks and 1MB memory. The lack of colour made this Mac less useful for exploratory data analysis but its high resolution made it excellent for slide presentations. Beyond MacPaint, MacWrite and a few games there were no tools available for years prior to the introduction of the Fortran interpreter for Macs. The first color Mac IIci did not appear until 1989. We thank David W. Scott of the Department of Statistics of Rice University, Houston, Texas. |
The Apple II saw a serious use for statistical computation since 1984 at the Department of Statistics of Rice University, Houston, Texas. It served as a game computer for David W. Scott’s children who also used it for preparing elementary school assignments and reports. |