No special hardware or software is required, but a hard disk is strongly recommended and required if you want to use MacPattern in conjunction with the PROSITE and BLOCKS databases.
MacPattern was successfully tested on a wide range of Macintosh models, from the Mac Plus up to the Quadra and PowerBooks. It is fully compatible with MultiFinder and System 7. Some tasks can be performed in the background, giving plenty of time to the currently active process.
MacPattern is System 7-friendly and supports System 7 features such as Aliases or AppleEvents. It also works fine in 32-bit mode and with Virtual Memory turned on.
It is possible to use the sequence databases on the EMBL CD-ROM as input files for MacPattern in order to check newly developed patterns against the whole database. This application of MacPattern was only tested with the Apple CD-ROM drive, however, not with any third-party drives.
MacPattern can be run from a network file server, because any temporary files are stored in the local System folder (or Preferences folder). However, if a database is stored on a server, it will not be possible to save changes to the database index file.
