Stella usage by OS and hardware type

[+stephena]

I'm looking to gather some info on how Stella is used, and on what type of hardware it's used on. Please fill out the survey so we can improve Stella. I'm assuming you're using the latest version (or as close to it as possible). If you're not for some reason, then select 'Older version, or not listed above'. And perhaps specify why you're not using the latest version

[Keatah]

I'm using Stella on WinXP 32-bit AND Win7 64-bit almost equally.

[Tifany]

I use both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Linux Ubuntu depending on which computer Im playing with. The Retropie for Linux X86 also uses the 32bit version.

[Cepp]

Win 10 x64 exclusively for me.

[ClassicGMR]

I use "Windows 7/8/10 64-bit" install running on:

 

MSI GT70 Dominator, Win10 Home, i7-4810MQ, 8GB RAM, GeForce GTX870M (have also used the onboard Intel HD 4600 with Stella - no visible difference)

 

Custom build with - AMD A10-7890K using integrated AMD Radeon R7 graphics, Win10 Pro, 8GB RAM. (Emulation arcade - no graphics card atm)

[Thomas Jentzsch]

IMO you should allow multiple options. I am using 32 and 64 bit Windows 10.

[mr_me]

I use both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Linux Ubuntu depending on which computer Im playing with. The Retropie for Linux X86 also uses the 32bit version.

Retropie/Raspberry Pi is Linux but it's not x86. Retropi/Raspberry Pi should be a seperate poll option. [it uses a different version of Stela.] Edited September 4, 2017 by mr_me

[+stephena]

To be clearer, I'm only really concerned about the ports that I maintain (so Linux/OSX/Windows) on x86 hardware. Also, if you use Stella on multiple systems, just state which one is used more. Or more to the point, if you had to choose between one staying around and one being discontinued, which one would you pick?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Then I choose 32-Bit for Windows 10, because it runs on 64-Bit (which I use much more frequently) too.

[israelg]

Windows 7 64 bit & Android (Retroarch)

[+stephena]

How would people feel if the 32-bit versions were discontinued? Or Windows versions below Windows 7?? I'm not doing anything yet, just looking into what people are using, and anticipating that the software development environments are going to start excluding old versions eventually. OSX leads the way here, with 10.7 and Intel/64-bit being the minimum (32-bit isn't even supported anymore, and likely 10.7 won't be for much longer either).

[Albert]

That's fine by me, I don't use Windows.

 

..Al

[Keatah]

I'd like to see XP compatible versions supported for a little while longer.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

My three years old convertible only supports 32-Bits. I am more than fine with dropping XP.

[ClassicGMR]

I no longer use any unsupported OS and nothing is 32-bit in my sphere of influence. Would not affect me personally.

[mr_me]

Since 32-bit Stella works in both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows, you could eliminate the 64-bit Windows version.

[Flojomojo]

I think you can safely drop support for 32-bit. Anyone who wants/needs it can download the last stable version (or any older one of their choosing).

 

Asking for extended support for Windows XP, which was finally dropped by Microsoft) after years of extended support) many years ago, seems completely unreasonable to me. Especially for a free product that emulates a 40yo platform.

 

What do your download statistics suggest? You have more information about the demand side than we do.

[Flojomojo]

Double post

 

Ill fill the gap with a question

 

What new features can people expect in new versions of Stella? It seems pretty complete to me.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

What new features can people expect in new versions of Stella? It seems pretty complete to me.

As a developer, I can see a lot of potential for the debugger.

 

And we also have quite some suggestions for the emulator too. Check the issue list.

[+stephena]

Since 32-bit Stella works in both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows, you could eliminate the 64-bit Windows version.

 

Not that I'm dropping anything soon, but if/when the time comes, I would drop 32-bit only; 64-bit is the future, and it doesn't make sense to not give it priority over 32-bit. I personally only test Stella for Windows in Windows 10 64-bit, as that's all I have.

What do your download statistics suggest? You have more information about the demand side than we do.

 

Not sure I know how to get this. I knew how to track this when we used Sourceforge, but since moving to Github I haven't found similar info. Besides, this was more a question for the future too, which you can't get by just looking at download numbers.

[+stephena]

What new features can people expect in new versions of Stella? It seems pretty complete to me.

 

The issue list on Github contains 60+ entries, and that's just for things we know about right now. And while some of them are bugs, most are feature requests. So there's still plenty of life left in Stella yet.

[Flojomojo]

The issue list on Github contains 60+ entries, and that's just for things we know about right now. And while some of them are bugs, most are feature requests. So there's still plenty of life left in Stella yet.

 

Whoah, I see what you mean. All those little nitpick details drive home why I'm not a software developer

 

My take on Stella 5 is, "that looks about right."

 

I'm glad you're actively working on this. Still think 32-bit Windows support is not worth it in the long run, unless it's trivial to build.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Not that I'm dropping anything soon, but if/when the time comes, I would drop 32-bit only; 64-bit is the future, and it doesn't make sense to not give it priority over 32-bit. I personally only test Stella for Windows in Windows 10 64-bit, as that's all I have.

I understand, but there are still quite a lot of rather new devices which only support 32-Bit. Especially cheap notebooks/tablets (usually Intel Atom based) still often come only with Windows 32-Bit (Home).

 

Not sure I know how to get this. I knew how to track this when we used Sourceforge, but since moving to Github I haven't found similar info. Besides, this was more a question for the future too, which you can't get by just looking at download numbers.

I suppose you tried this already?

https://help.github.com/articles/getting-the-download-count-for-your-releases/

[+stephena]

I suppose you tried this already?

https://help.github.com/articles/getting-the-download-count-for-your-releases/

 

I didn't know about this, but will check it out soon. Perhaps it can be integrated into the main webpage??

[+stephena]

I'm glad you're actively working on this. Still think 32-bit Windows support is not worth it in the long run, unless it's trivial to build.

 

As of now, creating a 32-bit build of Stella in Windows is as simple as selecting "(32-bit)" from a dropdown box in Visual Studio and then compiling. As long as Visual Studio keeps it that easy, then I have no problems with doing the release.

 

I suspect the next candidate for the chopping block is XP support, again because of Visual Studio. Already XP support was removed from VS, only to be put back in a point-release because of feedback to Microsoft. But they're not going to give in forever; XP support will disappear eventually. And I always keep up with the latest version of Visual Studio, since (a) it's free (I have a membership through work) and (b) I want to use newer features of C++ when available.

 

For OSX, they've already moved to 64-bit Intel-only, so unless they move to ARM at some point in the future, we only need to do one build there.

 

For Linux, I have a 2 chroots, one for 32-bit and one for 64-bit. About the only thing it takes up is space, so it's no problem to do those releases either. But TBH, pure 32-bit Linux distros are disappearing rapidly; the move to 64-bit is happening fast, and has been for the past few years.

 

Overall, my main issue is that 32-bit receives absolutely no testing whatsoever. I just compile and ship it; I don't even run it. All my systems are 64-bit, and that's where all the testing happens.