[Stella-devel] Integration of SDL Stella and Cyberstella

[Stephen A. <ste...@ro...>]

This message applies to those of you using the Windows port of Stella 
(Cyberstella).  As I've mentioned in the past, developer availability has 
been extremely limited lately.  We're down to one active developer 
(myself), with another returning in 3-4 months.  Under those 
circumstances, I've decided to drop the X11 port in favour of SDL.  Since 
the SDL port does everything (and more) that the X11 one did, this is not 
a problem.

I had no plans to further develop the DOS port, so it may die as well.  My 
immediate concern was Cyberstella.  Previous to the work started about a 
month ago, it hadn't been updated in over a year.  Since this one 
addresses the dominant user-base, I felt something had to be done.

I've been struggling with getting the Cyberstella port updated, but I am 
not as proficient in DirectX as I am in SDL, so progress has been slower 
than I would have liked.  But my main concern is code duplication.  It 
seems that whenever I add a feature to SDL, I have to boot into Windows 
and add the *exact same code*.  It's been annoying trying to get DirectX 
video and audio working when they are already fine in the SDL port, and 
all the more annoying since SDL exists for Windows as well.

So as of the next release, I will be porting the SDL version to Windows 
and using that as the basis for Stella.  The Cyberstella GUI will still 
be used as a frontend, so people will still have a user interface (SDL 
Stella is commandline based).  Actually, I've already ported stella.sdl 
to Windows, and as soon as I get the minor sound sync bug fixed, it will 
be ready to ship.  I estimate that it would take at least another month 
to get Cyberstella to adequate levels, and even then, it wouldn't have 
all the features that stella.sdl has now (and are currently working in 
Windows).

So that is the gist of this email.  If someone comes along to actively 
maintain Cyberstella and port the code to pure DirectX, then that's fine.  
But at this point, I don't really see the need.  SDL in Windows is based 
on DirectX anyway, and the SDL port has a full-time maintainer (me).

I'll throughly document how to proceed with the Cyberstella port if anyone 
wants to, but until then, that port is unmaintained.

Brad, if you're reading this, please respond.

Sorry to have to take these measures, but I have 3 choices:

1)  Let the whole project die (for the immediate future)
2)  Have no Windows port *at all* for another 6 months
3)  Delay *all* ports until each one is written
4)  Make the SDL port work on as many platforms as possible, so when 
changes are made to it, everyone benefits.

I think that you can see that with only one developer, option (4) makes 
the most sense.

Comments are welcome,
Steve A