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From: Stephen A. <ste...@us...> - 2004-07-17 22:43:12
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Release 1.4 for Linux, Mac OSX and Windows
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The Atari 2600 Video Computer System (VCS), introduced in 1977, was the
most popular home video game system of the early 1980's. Now you can
enjoy all of your favorite Atari 2600 games on your PC thanks to Stella!
Stella is a multi-platform Atari 2600 VCS emulator. It allows you to play
all of your favorite Atari 2600 games again! Stella was originally
developed for Linux by Bradford W. Mott, however, it has been ported to a
number of other platforms.
This is the 1.4 release of Stella for Linux, Mac OSX and Windows.
Distributions for other operating systems will appear as they become
available. The distributions currently available are:
* Binary distribution in RPM format for Linux (stella-1.4-1.i586.rpm)
* Binary distribution for Mac OSX (StellaOSX1.4.dmg.gz)
* Binary distribution for Windows (stella-1.4-win32.zip)
* Source code distribution for Linux, Mac OSX and Windows
(stella-1.4-src.tar.gz)
* Source code in SRPM format for Linux RPM-based systems
(stella-1.4-1.src.rpm)
PLEASE DO NOT WRITE ASKING FOR ROM IMAGES TO USE WITH STELLA! ALL SUCH
REQUESTS WILL BE IGNORED!
New in this Release
===================
* Codebase ported to SDL. The DOS and X11 ports have been discontinued.
* Sound code ported to SDL. For the Linux versions, ALSA and OSS sound
support has been discontinued.
* The Linux, MacOSX and Windows ports are now based on the same codebase
and are actively maintained. That means simultaneous (and hopefully
more frequent) releases.
* A new Windows port has been created, with the GUI based on StellaX.
This is the first new release for Windows since Stella 1.2.
(software mode is not yet optimized; OpenGL mode works much better)
* A new Mac OSX port has been created by Mark Grebe. This is the first
new release for Mac OSX since Stella 1.2.
* Added OpenGL rendering support.
* Added more refined in-game GUI.
* Added event remapping. Emulation keys can now be remapped to the
keyboard or up to 4 joysticks.
* Added native Stelladaptor support. Joysticks, paddles, and driving
controllers have been tested.
* Digital sound support (used in games like Quadrun and Pitfall2) has
been greatly improved. Sound generation is now more tightly
synchronized with video updates.
* Added support for switchable palettes. Currently you can switch
between the current Stella palette, original Stella palette (pre-1.2
versions), and the z26 palette.
* Added support for UA Limited style bankswitching (Funky Fish and
Pleiades).
* Switched to using high compatibility M6502 mode by default. This means
old state saves from previous Stella versions will no longer work.
* The meaning of the "-sound" command line option has been changed. This
option now accepts either 'true' or 'false (1 or 0) to enable/disable
sound.
* Changed sound mixer functionality. The system volume/mixer settings
will never be changed; volume changes in Stella will only affect the
emulation itself.
* Added "-video" command line option. This option accepts either 'soft'
or 'gl', to use software/OpenGL rendering.
* Added "-gl_filter" command line option. This option accepts either
'nearest' or 'linear', to use GL_NEAREST or GL_LINEAR filtering.
* Added "-gl_aspect" command line option. This option accepts a decimal
value specifying how much to scale the width of the emulation image
(useful for giving an authentic 'square-looking' 4:3 mode).
* Added "-gl_fsmax" command line option. This option accepts either
'true' or 'false, and specifies to use the maximum possible resolution
when in fullscreen OpenGL mode (useful for Linux and for Windows on
laptops).
* Added "-fragsize" command line option. This option accepts the size to
use for sound fragments. Linux/MacOSX works well with 512, Windows
seems to need 2048. This value must be a power of two.
* Modified "-volume" command line option. If you specify '-1', Stella
will use the system volume.
* Renamed the "-pro" command line option to "-altpro".
* Renamed the "-fps" command line option to "-framerate".
* Removed the "-center" command line option. Stella now automatically
centers the window when possible.
* Removed the "-paddle real" command line option, since it never really
worked correctly (and Stelladaptor support adds that functionality
anyway).
* Removed all command line options relating to the X11 port
(owncmap, display).
Distribution Site
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The Stella distributions can be obtained from the Stella Website at:
http://stella.sourceforge.net
Have fun!
Steve
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