Re: [Stella-devel] CyberStella for Win32?

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

On October 20, 2003 11:46 am, Serge S. Fukanchik wrote:
> Hi, Chris,
>
> Chris Peterson wrote:
> > I'm trying to compile the CyberStella for Win32, but I'm having a lot
> > of compile errors. I'm using MSVC7 (Visual Studio .NET). I noticed
> > that the Stella 1.3 release did not include the CyberStella or Win32
> > code, but the CVS head does. Is the CyberStella/Win32 code expected
> > to build?
>
> I'm successfully compiled stella with MinGW under Win32 with linux-sdl
> target, but without sound support with quite minor modifications. If
> you need just binary file, contact me and i'll send you one.

I think I answered the parent poster in a private email, but I'll answer 
again here for the benefit of everyone else.

There was no version 1.3 of Cyberstella.  It hasn't been developed in over 
a year (since 1.2).  There *will* be a simultaneous release of version 
1.4 for Linux and Windows.  No estimates on when this will happen, expect 
at least a month away.

The whole codebase is very unstable right now.  I'll advise when 
developers should start basing ports off of CVS.  Of course, since this 
is a GPL project, you're free to modify it whenever you want.  But I 
advise to wait a little while; it will make porting much easier.

If you're compiling a handheld machine, it may be better to work from the 
SDL version instead.  The main reason is that Cyberstella includes a 
Windows GUI and other stuff that will not be feasible on a small 
handheld, and SDL is commandline based.  So if SDL is available for your 
handheld, I strongly suggest you take a look at that.  I give higher 
priority to the SDL code, so you may even get some features implemented 
earlier :)

Some notes on the Windows code, as there seems to be some confusion:

1)  The win32 directory in CVS is for historical interest only.  It won't 
compile, and isn't being worked on.

2)  The Cyberstella port will require Visual C++ 7 (aka, .NET).  This is 
because of some legal C++ code that generates errors with VisualC++ 6 
(and I'm not going to rewrite parts of the core to accommodate a buggy 
compiler).

3)  The Cyberstella port doesn't have sound, mouse, joystick or windowed 
modes ATM.  The windowed mode may not happen for 1.4, but the rest of it 
will.  There may not be many extra, requested features in 1.4 (like 
multiple joysticks), but I will try.  My main concern is getting 
Cyberstella 1.4 to actually compile and out to users.  Better to have a 
few less features than no release at all.

The reason for all this is that we only have one active developer ATM 
(me).  So while I will listen to suggestions, only the ones I planned on 
doing for 1.4 will actually be implemented right now.  Please don't be 
abusive :)

I'm currently moving a lot of stuff around and trying to make the job of 
porting to new platforms much easier.  Not just for porters but for 
myself as well, since I'm working on SDL and Windows now.  My goal is 
that a new port will only require subclassing of 3 classes (FrameBuffer, 
Sound, Settings) and a main initialization and event gathering loop.  And 
I plan to write a Porting.txt document to spell out what is required.
  
Once we get some of our developers back, development should go much 
faster.

Thanks,
Stephen Anthony
Linux developer for Stella
(temporary Windows developer for Stella)