Stella 2.3 released

[Robert]

Atari 2600 emulator

 

Release Name: 2.3

 

Notes:

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 2.3 release of Stella for Linux, Mac OSX, Windows and GP2X. Distributions for other operating systems will appear as they become available. The distributions currently available are:

 

* Binary distribution in RPM format for Linux (stella-2.3-1.i586.rpm)

* Binary distribution for Mac OSX (StellaOSX2.3.dmg.gz)

* Binary installer (exe) for Windows (stella-2.3-win32.exe)

* Binary zip for GP2X (stella-2.3-gp2x.zip)

* Source code in SRPM format for Linux RPM-based systems (stella-2.3-1.src.rpm)

* Source code distribution for all platforms (stella-2.3-src.tar.gz)

 

Changes:

2.2 to 2.3: (December 22, 2006)

 

* NOTE: Because of the many changes in this release, all settings will be reset to defaults. If this doesn't happen for you, it will be necessary to manually delete your previous settings.

 

* Potentially huge speedups in software rendering mode, both in emulation and UI modes. Deactivating 'dirty rects' uses these new modes, which can be 2-3 times faster for many configurations.

 

* For UI navigation, changed from using 'joymouse' to the more familiar 'tabbing' functionality, where you move from object to object by use of some tab key. As a result, completely removed the 'joymouse' commandline argument and all associated functionality.

 

* Added event remapping for UI events, separate from events while in emulation mode.

 

* Added support for PAL60 ROMs, which use the PAL palette and resolution but run at NTSC timing (60Hz). Added ROM property for this, and updated the internal properties database for many PAL60 ROMs.

 

* Added support for user-definable palettes. For now, only one extra palette is supported, but in the future we may have them specified per-ROM.

 

* Fixed bug in PAL colour-loss emulation, which wasn't actually being done for the original Stella and z26 palettes.

 

* Fixed several TIA-related emulation bugs as reported on AtariAge. More fixes will come with the TIA rewrite, due in the next release.

 

* Added new scaler infrastructure, replacing the '-zoom' commandline argument with '-scale_ui' and '-scale_tia'. This means the UI and emulation can now be scaled independently.

 

* Added '-gl_vsync' commandline argument and associated UI elements, which uses synchronization to vertical blank interrupt in OpenGL on supported systems. This eliminates tearing in OpenGL rendering.

 

* Changed naming of snapshots and state files. These files are now named based on the names given in the properties database, and no longer use the 'md5sum' name. As a result, state files from previous versions will no longer work unless they're manually renamed. Related to this, removed the '-ssname' commandline argument.

 

* Fixed bug where 'Snapshot saved' appeared when taking snapshots in succession.

 

* Added a 'Previous directory' entry to the top of each listing while in ROM Browse mode, which is equivalent to the 'Go Up' button. This makes it easier to navigate the filesystem, since you never have to 'tab out' of the ROM listing.

 

* Added all sound related commandline options to the UI, so you no longer have to use the commandline to set those options.

 

* Added new property to ROM properties specifying whether to swap paddles plugged into a virtual port. This eliminates the need to manually set the paddle mode for those ROMs that don't use paddle zero by default.

 

* Added a 'Defaults' button to the Game Properties dialog, which resets the ROM properties to the internal defaults, deleting that ROMs properties from the external properties file.

 

* Fixed bug whereby modified ROM properties weren't being reloaded when restarting a ROM.

 

* Made 'phosphor' and 'phosphor blend' a ROM property, meaning it can be set per-ROM.

 

* Added support for relocating the base Stella directory, by setting the environment variable 'STELLA_BASEDIR'. This must be done each time before Stella starts.

 

* Added '-fastscbios' commandline argument, which speeds up loading of vertical bars in Supercharger ROMs, and made it the default.

 

* Added '-autoslot' commandline argument, which automatically switches to the next available slot after saving a state. This defaults to off, and must be set from the commandline.

 

* Fixed bug in debugger command 'runto', which could enter an infinite loop under some conditions.

 

* Updated configure/build toolchain so patching is no longer required for Debian packages.

 

* Removed dependency on PNG library (PNG snapshots are still present, but the actual library is no longer required).

 

* For the OSX port, improved OpenGL performance on Mac Mini using Intel GMA950 video hardware.

 

* For the GP2X port, added support for PAL ROMs, and updated SDL to use hardware scaling.

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