[Stella-announce] Stella 1.4 has been released!

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

===========================================
                  Release 1.4 for Linux, Mac OSX and Windows
===========================================

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
================= 

The Stella distributions can be obtained from the Stella Website at:

  http://stella.sourceforge.net


Have fun!
Steve