This Stella derivative any good?

[Keatah]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.explusalpha.A2600Emu&hl=en

 

..any good? It costs 3 bucks!

[+Trebor]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.explusalpha.A2600Emu&hl=en

 

..any good? It costs 3 bucks!

 

I sure hope Stephen is on-board, supports, and approved this "derivative" and the charging a fee for it. If the install base of 5000-10000 is accurate...

 

 

That means $8,000-$30,000 has been received thus far. Fantastic if Stephen is associated with it...and pretty stinking lousy if he is not.

[+iesposta]

I bought the iOS version from him.

One of the few jailbreak app sellers to continue support through all iOS updates.

He builds great emulators for hard-to-support devices.

Also he continues to post fixes and updates to every emulator, and they all have a consistent "front end".

 

The source code and everything to build this is available on his website or linked.

i just wouldn't know the first step to begin to compile for iOS or Android.

[Kr0tki]

Fantastic if Stephen is associated with it...and pretty stinking lousy if he is not.

Your judgement is unfair, Trebor. The GPL licence allows everyone to modify and republish Stella as they wish, including commercial distribution. I'm sure Stephen was aware of that when he started participating in Stella's development.

 

The problem would arise if the seller didn't provide source code to his modifications to the buyers. But this Robert Broglia guy complies with the requirement by providing the necessary links on his website. We have no moral ground to condemn him.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.explusalpha.A2600Emu&hl=en

 

..any good? It costs 3 bucks!

No clue, but it is still based on Stella 3.9, which is more than 1.5 years old now.

[israelg]

From my experience it is a very good port that also support external controllers,

 

so you can actually even use a usb Atari joystick to play...

[+Trebor]

Your judgement is unfair, Trebor. The GPL licence allows everyone to modify and republish Stella as they wish, including commercial distribution. I'm sure Stephen was aware of that when he started participating in Stella's development.

 

The problem would arise if the seller didn't provide source code to his modifications to the buyers. But this Robert Broglia guy complies with the requirement by providing the necessary links on his website. We have no moral ground to condemn him.

 

My statement was:

 

"I sure hope Stephen is on-board, supports, and approved this "derivative" and the charging a fee for it. If the install base of 5000-10000 is accurate...

That means $8,000-$30,000 has been received thus far. Fantastic if Stephen is associated with it...and pretty stinking lousy if he is not."

Regardless, of what the license allows, it is my opinion - even if not the popular one. I did not state what is being done is immoral or condemn the individual; and I still stand by my opinion.

An emulator that has been worked on and shared to the masses freely as a labor of love by individuals for 20 years is then picked up by someone else, throws a fee for their interface wrapper on it, without notification or collaboration with Stella's author(s) is pretty stinking lousy - Again, in my opinion. This is coming from someone who has contributed monetarily to Stella. He may be "in the right" for doing so, but it doesn't mean everyone has to like it.

We'll have to agree to disagree on perspective and viewpoint.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

If the fee is for the wrapper and the work involved, then to me it seems justified. I suppose there is quite some effort required to make it work on so many devices and OS versions. Plus handling all the people who bought the product and expect some kind of support for it. Etc. And as a paying customer I would also expect that the product is updated regularly (here it seems to be behind).

 

Anyway, IMO we are back to the question between right and moral. As far as I can tell, the right is 100% on his side. So what's left is solely the moral discussion. And there is no black and white. Sure it would be nice, if some of the money generated would be donated to support Stella development. Maybe that's the plan or maybe that has happened already. But due to the Stella license, you cannot demand that.

 

Also, how many of us, who regularly use Stella have really supported its development? I know you have, but the credits list has less than 120 entries.

[+stephena]

Hmm, an interesting discussion. IMHO, both viewpoints here are valid. It's true that the GPL states that as long as you release the source, you can do what you want with the code. And the GPL is indeed being followed here, so I have no objection or issue.

 

That being said, I have not received any donations from this port, nor am I required to. But I wouldn't complain if I did And it might also be in the best interests of such a project, since the longer the base code stays maintained, the longer the port can make profit for the other developer. But I cannot force this, nor would I want to.

 

Thomas is also right, in that the number of people donating to Stella at all is very small. I do appreciate all the support I do get, but it is in general from a very small portion of the user base. Over the years, Stella has been downloaded over a million times, and the number of people that have donated is somewhere around 200. You do the math

 

EDIT: I should also add that Stella has been directly responsible for getting me 3 jobs so far, the most important being the position I've been in for the past 13 years. So I'm not exactly getting nothing from the arrangement either.