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

                      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
                     SS  SS   tt   ee      ll   ll  aa  aa
                      SSSS     ttt  eeeee llll llll  aaaaa

      Version 0.6 for Linux, MS-DOS, OS/2, Power Macs, Unix and Windows

===============================================================================
        A Bradford W. Mott production in association with Aaron Giles,
       Seunghee Lee, Jeff Miller, Darrell Spice Jr., and Keith Wilkins
===============================================================================

Stella is a portable emulator of the old Atari 2600 video-game console
written in C++.  It is still a work-in-progress, however, you can play
most Atari 2600 games with this release.  There are six distributions:

  * Binary distribution for Linux (stella-0.6-linux.tar.gz)

  * Binary distribution for MS-DOS (stella06.exe)

  * Binary distribution for OS/2 (stella-0.6-os2.zip)

  * Binary distribution for Power Macs (stella-0.6-mac.hqx)

  * Binary distribution for Windows 95 & NT (stella-0.6-win32.zip)

  * Source code distribution for Unix & MS-DOS (stella-0.6-src.tar.gz)

There are three 2600 ROM images (.BIN files) included with each of these 
distributions.  One of them is a very simple test program, TEST.BIN, another
one, ELK.BIN, is a playable prototype of a game called "Elk Attack" by 
Mark R. Hahn (see elk.doc for details), and the third one, OKIEDOKE.BIN, is 
a new game called "Okie Dokie" by Bob Colbert (see okiedoke.doc for details).
BEYOND THESE THREE FILES NONE OF THESE DISTRIBUTIONS CONTAIN ANY 2600 ROM 
IMAGES (.BIN FILES) AND PLEASE DON'T WRITE ASKING FOR ROMS BECAUSE THEY'RE 
COPYRIGHTED!  If you own any of the Atari 2600 Action Packs by Activision 
you can use the ROM images from it with Stella.  There are several property 
files (.VCS files) included with each distribution, however, you cannot play
a game with just a property file you must also have the corresponding ROM 
image file.


New in this Version
===================

  * Fixed collision detection problem (Freeway works)

  * Changed PIA timing code to fix screen jitters

  * Added new bank switching methods: F4SC (Fatal Run), E7 (Burgertime)

  * Fixed some code in the TIA emulation that caused SEGFAULTS

  * Improved frame rate throttling code to work better on fast machines

  * Improved TIA emulation (missle graphics are fully emulated now)

  * Included Bob Colbert's "Okie Dokie" game


Supported Systems
=================

The following systems are currently supported:

  * Linux (SVGALIB, X windows)

  * MS-DOS

  * OS/2

  * Power Macs

  * Unix (HP/UX, Solaris, etc...)

  * Windows 95 & NT


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

The Stella distributions can be obtained from the Stella home page at:

  http://www4.ncsu.edu/~bwmott/www/2600

If for some reason you are unable to connect to this page please try again
later.  Sometimes the AFS sever goes down and the HTTP server can't access
my home directory :-)


Acknowledgements
================

The following people have had a big part in bringing version 0.6 to you:

  Aaron Giles       - Maintained the Power Macintosh version
  Jeff Miller       - Maintained the Windows version
  Bradford Mott     - Maintained the core code, Linux and Unix/X version
  Darrell Spice Jr. - Maintained the OS/2 version
  Keith Wilkins     - Maintained the MS-DOS version
  
  
Contacts
========

If you have any questions regarding Stella send mail to:

  bwmott@eos.ncsu.edu


