RAM Requirements

FretPet requires a minimum of 4MB of free RAM to operate. The memory requirements as set in the application's Get Info box should be sufficient for normal operation. If you can't run the program because there isn't enough RAM installed in your computer, try changing the Preferred setting from 6000K to the minimum 4000K.

Contact the author if you still can't get FretPet to work.

System 7.0 or better

FretPet has been tested on 68K machines, original PowerPC machines, and G3 machines with OS revisions from System 7.1.2 up to MacOS 8.1. It should run on all Macs and Mac clones with System 7.0 or higher.

QuickTime & MIDI support

FretPet plays its sound through QuickTime Musical Instruments. To use this feature you will need QuickTime 2.0 or higher installed in your Extensions folder along with the file QuickTime™ Musical Instruments.

If either of these files is missing FretPet will not run.

MIDI is supported through QuickTime 2.x / 3.x using synthesizer add-ons like Opcode Music System, which I highly recommend. See Appendix D, QuickTime™ and MIDI for more information.

You can use MIDI Input / Thru in one of two ways. If you are using QuickTime 2.x then you must also have Opcode Music System installed. QuickTime 3 has other options for MIDI Input built in, so OMS is not necessarily required.

Appearance Manager

FretPet has been updated to support the Appearance Manager on systems that have it installed. Appearance Manager is automatically installed as a part of MacOS 8. Users of System 7.5 and up can also install Appearance Manager, available at the Apple web site.

What is it? Appearance gives your system the new Apple Grayscale look and various interface enhancements, including preliminary support for switchable themes which will be a part of MacOS 8.5 when it is released in October.

The most significant feature of Appearance Manager that FretPet takes advantage of is "live scrolling," which gives you rapid feedback as you drag in scroll bars. I think this significantly improves the user experience and is generally cool.

MacOS™ 8.5 Support

MacOS 8.5 is right around the corner. For some reason the codename "Allegro" reminds me of an allergy medication... Nevertheless I'm very excited to see all the new and improved stuff that the Apple engineers have put in to improve our user experience.

One very exciting feature in OS 8.5 is the new Navigation Services dialog that replaces the Standard File dialog we've all put up with for so long. FretPet supports the new dialog in the Open, Save, and Export commands. You can now select multiple files to open at once and see previews of your files. The dialog remembers the last place it was on the screen and where you last browsed on your disk.

If you want to take advantage of the new dialog but don't yet have OS 8.5 you'll find the library file Navigation included in the FretPet package. Just drop it into the Extensions Folder. No restart is required. Next time you open or save a file in FretPet the new dialog will be there.