Compiling Stella in Ubuntu

[Dragnerok X]

After a recent (fairly successful) switch to Ubuntu on my iBook, I decided I should download Stella. So, I fired up the Synaptic Package Manager as usual, and located it with ease. Everything ran great, however, the release I downloaded was only version 2.2 and I wanted the latest release, 2.4.2 (partly due to the new interface color-scheme, the other half due to that feeling of being ¨up to date¨) . So, I took my hand at compiling it using the Build-Essential tools. It appeared just as the older release had in the Games menu, but when I ran it, the screen resolution went absolutely out-of-whack, which ironically, didn´t happen with the older release. Have I just compiled something wrong? Any help would be appreciated.

[+stephena]

After a recent (fairly successful) switch to Ubuntu on my iBook, I decided I should download Stella. So, I fired up the Synaptic Package Manager as usual, and located it with ease. Everything ran great, however, the release I downloaded was only version 2.2 and I wanted the latest release, 2.4.2 (partly due to the new interface color-scheme, the other half due to that feeling of being ¨up to date¨) . So, I took my hand at compiling it using the Build-Essential tools. It appeared just as the older release had in the Games menu, but when I ran it, the screen resolution went absolutely out-of-whack, which ironically, didn´t happen with the older release. Have I just compiled something wrong? Any help would be appreciated.

I have no experience with a PPC port in Linux, but seeing how the older version worked, the newer one should as well. I suggest to delete your $HOME/.stella directory, so that it starts out with clean config files. Also, try compiling the source using the following instructions:

 

1) Change to the stella source directory: "cd ~/src/stella" (or whereever you decompressed the source code)

 

2) Build the application: "debuild -uc -us"

 

3) Answer yes and/or ignore any warnings

 

If it complains about not finding certain header files, make sure you install the relevant packages. In Ubuntu, Stella needs the following development packages installed:

 

libsdl1.2-dev

zlib1g-dev

libgl1-mesa-dev

 

You don't actually need the last one, but Stella won't have OpenGL support if you don't install it.

[Dragnerok X]

After a recent (fairly successful) switch to Ubuntu on my iBook, I decided I should download Stella. So, I fired up the Synaptic Package Manager as usual, and located it with ease. Everything ran great, however, the release I downloaded was only version 2.2 and I wanted the latest release, 2.4.2 (partly due to the new interface color-scheme, the other half due to that feeling of being ¨up to date¨) . So, I took my hand at compiling it using the Build-Essential tools. It appeared just as the older release had in the Games menu, but when I ran it, the screen resolution went absolutely out-of-whack, which ironically, didn´t happen with the older release. Have I just compiled something wrong? Any help would be appreciated.

I have no experience with a PPC port in Linux, but seeing how the older version worked, the newer one should as well. I suggest to delete your $HOME/.stella directory, so that it starts out with clean config files. Also, try compiling the source using the following instructions:

 

1) Change to the stella source directory: "cd ~/src/stella" (or whereever you decompressed the source code)

 

2) Build the application: "debuild -uc -us"

 

3) Answer yes and/or ignore any warnings

 

If it complains about not finding certain header files, make sure you install the relevant packages. In Ubuntu, Stella needs the following development packages installed:

 

libsdl1.2-dev

zlib1g-dev

libgl1-mesa-dev

 

You don't actually need the last one, but Stella won't have OpenGL support if you don't install it.

 

Thank you. It seems running it through debuild did the trick. One last question, though. Can I safely go about removing the installation files from my home folder, or just move them for access later?

[+stephena]

After a recent (fairly successful) switch to Ubuntu on my iBook, I decided I should download Stella. So, I fired up the Synaptic Package Manager as usual, and located it with ease. Everything ran great, however, the release I downloaded was only version 2.2 and I wanted the latest release, 2.4.2 (partly due to the new interface color-scheme, the other half due to that feeling of being ¨up to date¨) . So, I took my hand at compiling it using the Build-Essential tools. It appeared just as the older release had in the Games menu, but when I ran it, the screen resolution went absolutely out-of-whack, which ironically, didn´t happen with the older release. Have I just compiled something wrong? Any help would be appreciated.

I have no experience with a PPC port in Linux, but seeing how the older version worked, the newer one should as well. I suggest to delete your $HOME/.stella directory, so that it starts out with clean config files. Also, try compiling the source using the following instructions:

 

1) Change to the stella source directory: "cd ~/src/stella" (or whereever you decompressed the source code)

 

2) Build the application: "debuild -uc -us"

 

3) Answer yes and/or ignore any warnings

 

If it complains about not finding certain header files, make sure you install the relevant packages. In Ubuntu, Stella needs the following development packages installed:

 

libsdl1.2-dev

zlib1g-dev

libgl1-mesa-dev

 

You don't actually need the last one, but Stella won't have OpenGL support if you don't install it.

 

Thank you. It seems running it through debuild did the trick. One last question, though. Can I safely go about removing the installation files from my home folder, or just move them for access later?

Once the app has been built, it will generate a 'deb' file. In your case, it's probably named 'stella_2.4.2-1_ppc.deb', or something close to it. That's the only file you actually need; the remaining files/folders can be removed. In fact, once you install the 'deb' file, you don't even need to keep that one either (although I recommend you do so, just in case you need to re-install it).