<s>
McIDAS	B-Application
,	O
the	O
"	O
Man	O
computer	O
Interactive	O
Data	O
Access	O
System	O
"	O
,	O
is	O
a	O
weather	O
forecasting	O
tool	O
developed	O
at	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Wisconsin	O
–	O
Madison	O
in	O
the	O
1970s	O
and	O
used	O
continually	O
to	O
this	O
day	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Users	O
of	O
the	O
McIDAS	B-Application
system	O
developed	O
a	O
similar	O
version	O
for	O
microcomputers	O
and	O
sold	O
by	O
ColorGraphics	O
Weather	O
Systems	O
that	O
generated	O
much	O
of	O
the	O
computerized	O
weather	O
imagery	O
seen	O
on	O
television	O
in	O
the	O
US	O
in	O
the	O
1980s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Known	O
as	O
WINDCO	O
,	O
the	O
system	O
consisted	O
of	O
a	O
video	O
disk	O
for	O
storing	O
imagery	O
and	O
a	O
Raytheon	O
440	O
minicomputer	B-Architecture
controlling	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
paper	O
tape	O
was	O
then	O
read	O
by	O
the	O
440	O
and	O
copied	O
onto	O
punched	B-Architecture
cards	I-Architecture
containing	O
instructions	O
for	O
the	O
UNIVAC	O
1108	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
,	O
which	O
converted	O
them	O
into	O
a	O
vector	O
map	O
overlaid	O
on	O
top	O
of	O
a	O
map	O
of	O
the	O
Earth	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
team	O
eventually	O
settled	O
on	O
a	O
Datacraft/5	O
computer	O
equipped	O
with	O
96	O
kB	O
of	O
core	B-General_Concept
memory	I-General_Concept
and	O
two	O
5	O
MB	O
hard	B-Device
drives	I-Device
,	O
one	O
fixed	O
,	O
one	O
removable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
new	O
software	O
,	O
McIDAS	B-Application
,	O
was	O
much	O
more	O
automated	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
user	O
's	O
primary	O
role	O
in	O
the	O
data	O
acquisition	O
phase	O
reduced	O
to	O
checking	O
the	O
quality	O
of	O
the	O
vectors	O
being	O
automatically	O
generated	O
by	O
the	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
McIDAS	B-Application
accepted	O
data	O
from	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
sources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
McIDAS	B-Application
system	O
was	O
complete	O
in	O
June	O
1972	O
,	O
but	O
tuning	O
continued	O
for	O
several	O
months	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
October	O
1973	O
a	O
real-time	O
feed	O
from	O
McIDAS	B-Application
to	O
the	O
local	O
WHA-TV	O
state	O
public	O
television	O
service	O
was	O
installed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Continued	O
demand	O
resulted	O
in	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
a	O
second-generation	O
version	O
of	O
McIDAS	B-Application
based	O
on	O
six	O
Harris/6	O
computers	O
connected	O
together	O
using	O
a	O
custom	O
networking	O
system	O
they	O
called	O
"	O
burn	O
lines	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
a	O
tornado	O
in	O
Wichita	O
Falls	O
,	O
Texas	O
killed	O
several	O
people	O
in	O
1979	O
,	O
Congress	O
directed	O
that	O
a	O
new	O
McIDAS	B-Application
be	O
set	O
up	O
at	O
the	O
National	O
Severe	O
Storms	O
Forecast	O
Center	O
(	O
now	O
known	O
as	O
the	O
Storm	O
Prediction	O
Center	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
completed	O
in	O
January	O
1981	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
West	O
German	O
Space	O
Agency	O
started	O
the	O
task	O
of	O
converting	O
McIDAS	B-Application
to	O
an	O
Amdahl	O
mainframe	B-Architecture
in	O
1976	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
similar	O
system	O
was	O
later	O
installed	O
at	O
NASA	O
's	O
Goddard	O
Space	O
Flight	O
Center	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Newer	O
versions	O
were	O
written	O
for	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
System/370	I-Device
and	O
IBM	B-Device
4331	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
improved	O
performance	O
these	O
machines	O
offered	O
,	O
the	O
distributed	O
architecture	O
of	O
the	O
second-generation	O
McIDAS	B-Application
was	O
no	O
longer	O
needed	O
and	O
systems	O
returned	O
to	O
a	O
single-server	O
installation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1984	O
development	O
started	O
on	O
a	O
standalone	O
version	O
for	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
using	O
EGA	O
or	O
VGA	O
graphics	O
,	O
first	O
on	O
DOS	B-Device
and	O
later	O
on	O
OS/2	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
versions	O
spread	O
McIDAS	B-Application
beyond	O
the	O
university	O
and	O
laboratory	O
,	O
and	O
users	O
were	O
soon	O
found	O
at	O
television	O
stations	O
and	O
weather	O
prediction	O
agencies	O
around	O
the	O
world	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
fourth-generation	O
system	O
,	O
the	O
current	O
version	O
,	O
was	O
built	O
on	O
Unix	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
started	O
in	O
1989	O
as	O
a	O
McIDAS	B-Application
environment	O
for	O
Vis5D	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1993	O
that	O
McIDAS	B-Application
was	O
the	O
basis	O
for	O
development	O
of	O
a	O
supported	O
version	O
using	O
X	B-Operating_System
,	O
which	O
was	O
released	O
in	O
1996	O
as	O
McIDAS-X	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
standardized	O
networking	O
,	O
the	O
Unix	B-Application
version	O
allowed	O
low-cost	O
terminals	O
to	O
be	O
attached	O
to	O
the	O
Unix	B-Application
workstations	O
,	O
and	O
client	O
versions	O
for	O
OS/2	B-Application
and	O
Windows	B-Device
NT	I-Device
were	O
developed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
December	O
2009	O
,	O
McIDAS-X	O
is	O
tested	O
and	O
supported	O
by	O
SSEC	O
on	O
AIX	O
,	O
Enterprise	O
Linux	O
,	O
HP-UX	O
,	O
IRIX	O
,	O
Mac	O
OS	O
X	B-Operating_System
,	O
Solaris	O
,	O
and	O
Windows	O
XP	O
workstations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
fifth	O
generation	O
of	O
McIDAS	B-Application
is	O
actively	O
being	O
developed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
new	O
package	O
,	O
named	O
McIDAS-V	O
,	O
is	O
a	O
free	O
,	O
open	O
source	O
visualization	O
and	O
data	O
analysis	O
tool	O
that	O
displays	O
weather	O
satellite	O
(	O
including	O
hyperspectral	B-Application
)	O
and	O
other	O
geophysical	O
data	O
in	O
2	O
-	O
and	O
3-dimensions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
McIDAS-V	O
can	O
also	O
analyze	O
and	O
manipulate	O
the	O
data	O
with	O
its	O
powerful	O
mathematical	O
functions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
McIDAS-V	O
is	O
built	O
on	O
SSEC	O
's	O
VisAD	B-Application
and	O
Unidata	O
's	O
Integrated	B-Application
Data	I-Application
Viewer	I-Application
libraries	O
,	O
and	O
contains	O
"	O
Bridge	O
"	O
software	O
that	O
enables	O
McIDAS-X	O
users	O
to	O
run	O
their	O
commands	O
and	O
tasks	O
in	O
the	O
McIDAS-V	O
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
functionality	O
of	O
SSEC	O
's	O
HYDRA	O
software	O
package	O
is	O
also	O
being	O
integrated	O
into	O
McIDAS-V	O
for	O
viewing	O
and	O
analyzing	O
hyperspectral	B-Application
satellite	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Current	O
versions	O
of	O
the	O
various	O
McIDAS	B-Application
packages	O
can	O
be	O
downloaded	O
from	O
the	O
page	O
.	O
</s>
