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

     SSSS    tt          lll  lll
    SS  SS   tt           ll   ll
    SS     tttttt  eeee   ll   ll   aaaa
     SSSS    tt   ee  ee  ll   ll      aa
        SS   tt   eeeeee  ll   ll   aaaaa  --  "An Atari 2600 VCS Emulator"
    SS  SS   tt   ee      ll   ll  aa  aa
     SSSS     ttt  eeeee llll llll  aaaaa

===============================================================================
                     Release 1.3 for DOS, Linux, and Unix 
===============================================================================

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 1.3 release of Stella for DOS, Linux, and Unix. Distributions
for other operating systems will appear as they become available. The three 
distributions currently available are:

  * Binary distribution for Linux (stella-1.3-linux-x86.tar.gz)

  * Binary distribution for DOS (st13.zip)

  * Source code distribution for Linux, Unix, and DOS (stella-1.3-src.tar.gz)

PLEASE DO NOT WRITE ASKING FOR ROM IMAGES TO USE WITH STELLA! ALL SUCH
REQUESTS WILL BE IGNORED!

New in this Release
===================

  * Improved TIA sound system so that games with digitized audio work

  * Added saving and loading of game state to the core; X11, SDL, and DOS
    versions current support saving and loading game state

  * Added support for F4 bankswitching method

  * Pitfall II DPC sound emulation completed

  * Fixed a bug which caused the difficulty switches to operate backwards

  * Changed DPC auto-detection to use file size so that Pitfall II mods work

  * Modified RIOT timer emulation so that startup values are random

  * Added 3F bankswitching auto-detection routine so that homebrews and
    demos work without a stella.pro entry

  * Updated the TIA message boxes so they look a little nicer

  * Latest stella.pro file included in distribution

  * Added some developer options to the core, and the ability to change game
    width, height, xstart, ystart, and others while the emulation is running.
    Added ability to switch between NTSC and PAL at runtime, and the ability
    to save the current properties to a file or to merge the changes into the
    stella.pro file; X11 and SDL versions supported for now (compile option)

  * External sound server for the X11 and SDL versions no longer required, as
    all sound code is now integrated into the core

  * Changed locations of the user's config files for the X11 and SDL versions;
    the user's stellarc file is now located in $HOME/.stella/stellarc, state
    files are located in $HOME/.stella/state/ and the stella.pro file is
    located in $HOME/.stella/stella.pro

  * Changed the way options are supplied on the commandline for the X11 and
    SDL versions. Now all commandline options take exactly the same arguments
    as in the INI file.

  * Added "-accurate" command line option to choose between accurate
    (CPU-intensive) timing or less accurate (CPU-friendly) timing to X11
    and SDL versions. This is the final version of what was considered
    experimental timing code in Stella 1.2.

  * Added "-sound" command line option to choose which sound backend to
    use (alsa, oss, sdl) with the X11 and SDL versions.

  * Added the developer command line options to the X11 and SDL versions,
    which are only activated in developer builds: -Dformat, -Dwidth,
    -Dheight, -Dxstart, -Dystart, -Dmerge

  * Fixed window resize bug in the X11 port

  * Added "-nosound" command line option to the DOS port to disable audio

  * DOS port supports a "-vsync" option to synchronize emulation with the
    video blank of the video card

  * Changed VGA code in the DOS port to use a 60Hz 320x200 and a 60Hz
    320x240 graphics mode

  * DOS port has been updated to run better under Windows NT, 2000, and XP.
    There are still issues with the sound, however, it is usable.

  * DOS port is using a new Sound Blaster driver created by Matt Conte which
    supports auto-detection of sound cards.

  * DOS port supports a STELLA_HOME environment variable that defines
    the location of config files.

  * In the DOS port the stella.pro file is searched for first in the
    current working director and then in the $STELLA_HOME directory

  * In the DOS port the ROM image is searched for first using the
    specified path, then in $STELLA_HOME/ROMS, and finally in $STELLA_HOME

Distribution Site
================= 

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

  http://stella.atari.org

If for some reason you are unable to connect to the Stella Website using
the above URL please try http://stella.sourceforge.net.