[Stella-announce] Announce: Stella 1.4_cvs snapshot for testing ...

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

OK, this is a test release of the current CVS code for what will become 
Stella version 1.4.  Some people have asked the progress, so here it 
is:  http://www.cs.mun.ca/~stephena/stella_cvs_0416.zip

Go to the 'linux' directory for the linux version, or the 'windows' 
directory for the windows version.  If you want/need to recompile,
go to the 'src/build' directory.


Major changes from version 1.3:

1) Biggest change is that the codebase is now based on SDL.  That means 
that all other ports have been discontinued.  So there's no X11, DOS, 
or DirectX ports anymore.

2) The Windows port is now commandline based.  I will be adapting either 
StellaX or Cyberstella to work with the commandline version 
(eventually).  For now, you need to use a DOS box.

3) All sound ports have been discontinued.  That means that for Linux, 
the OSS and ALSA sound backends are gone, and for Windows the 
DirectSound is gone.  The sound code now uses SDL only.


New features:

1) An OpenGL backend has been added (use the '-video gl' commandline
argument)

2) Event remapping is possible.  That means that almost every function 
in Stella can be assigned to some other key (or joystick).  Hit the TAB 
key for a MAME-like in-game menu.  To change a key remapping, hit the 
ENTER key while on an event, then hit the key/joystick event to assign
to it.  To erase a mapping, hit the ENTER key while on an event, then 
hit 'ESCAPE'.  Hit TAB again to exit menu mode, or hit ESCAPE to 'move 
up' to a previous menu'.

3) Probably some others that I'm forgetting ...


What doesn't work quite right yet:

1) Fullscreen OpenGL mode in Windows is a bit screwy.

2) The sound code is scratchy in places, especially in Windows.

3) The advanced sound in the Pitfall2 cart is not supported (again, but 
it may be before the final release).

4) Screen snapshots don't work yet in OpenGL (it gives the same output 
as if software video mode had been selected).

5) The Windows software rendering backend is quite slow for some reason.  
I haven't figured it out yet, but it sometimes uses 60-70% CPU (the 
same code in Linux uses 3-4% CPU).  The OpenGL code uses about 8% CPU 
under Linux and Windows.


OK, if using Linux, you may need to recompile for your distro. Email me 
if you need any help.

And please people, give me feedback on this.  I can't fix something if I 
don't know it's broken.

And finally, if someone wants to try and compile this in MacOS X, then 
go for it.  And let me know how it works (there shouldn't be any code 
to change, except for possibly creating a SettingsMacOS class).

Email me at ste...@us....

Thanks,
Steve Anthony (Stella maintainer)