[wplug] Screen recording software for Linux

Pat Barron pat at lectroid.com
Mon Sep 23 17:41:30 EDT 2013


Thanks for this pointer!

In reviewing all the info, it really appears that there just isn't much 
available for Linux in this space, other than what we've already talked 
about.  The task really breaks down into two separate sub-tasks:

1)  Actually capturing the screen/window activity, and

2)  Processing the resulting recording afterwards to make it more useful 
(editing, annotations, captions, etc.)

Sub-task #1 seems to be mostly covered, and I can probably live with the 
limitations of something like Bysanz to do that (or maybe even the 
others that only encode in Ogg Vorbis / Theora format, though you have 
to be careful with lossy conversion to other formats if you need to 
upload to YouTube or something).

Sub-task #2 is where the existing Linux tools are really deficient.  
None of them address this at all (other than Wink, which I can't get to 
run on my system, and which I've seen others describe the 
post-processing capabilities as "primitive").

The best strategy I've been able to come up with so far, is to use one 
of the tools already mentioned, and then post-process it with something 
like OpenShot to do things like effects, lay in an additonal (or 
replacement) audio track, etc.  I don't know offhand if OpenShot lets 
you set up a caption layer.  If it does, this is probably the best 
course I've been able to discover.

It's really a shame, CamStudio actually does everything I'm looking for, 
and it's even open source.  But, it's targetted to Windows, and a Linux 
port would probably not be straightforward...

As for "script"...  Yes, that's an old friend.  ;-)  And on Unix-like 
systems, I'm still way more comfortable working at the command line than 
in a GUI.  But I fear that the world has moved on from the likes of me - 
I guess I should try to catch up.  ;-) I recently had to explain to 
someone how to do a fairly involved set of operations in a GUI, using 
only plan text prose, and I didn't find it easy.  That's part of what 
has set me off on this quest...

--Pat.

On 09/23/2013 4:14 PM, Beth Lynn Eicher wrote:
> Dear Pat,
>
> The magic phrase you are looking for is "screencasting software."
>
> There are some other suggestions here...
> http://askubuntu.com/questions/4428/how-to-create-a-screencast
>
> On a related note, if your capture needs are command-line only,
> /usr/bin/script is exactly what you need.
> http://linux.about.com/library/cmd/blcmdl1_script.htm
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Great question.
>
> Thanks,
> Beth Lynn Eicher
>
> On Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 2:48 PM, Pat Barron <pat at lectroid.com> wrote:
>> Does anyone have any favorite screen recording packages for Linux?
>> Basically, software that works something like Camtasia or CamStudio does
>> on Windows ... except not on Windows.  ;-)
>>
>> So far, I have found:
>>
>> 1.  RecordMyDesktop - rather minimal, doesn't provide any way to do
>> things like annotate the recording, plus only produces recordings in Ogg
>> Vorbis / Theora format which is somewhat limiting.
>> 2.  Istanbul - appears to have essentially the same minimal feature set,
>> and same file format limitations, as RecordMyDesktop.
>> 3.  Byzanz - also rather minimal for the same reasons, only allows
>> recording for a specified amount of time (i.e., doesn't provide any way
>> to do "Record until I tell you to stop"), plus it has a silly name that
>> I can never remember.  ;-)  But at least it will natively produce
>> recordings in FLV (Flash video) format.
>> 4.  Wink - Freeware but not open-source (and doesn't appear to be
>> included in any distro's repositories so it has to be installed outside
>> of the distro's package system), but creates recordings in FLV format
>> and lets you do at least basic annotations and things. But, doesn't
>> appear to want to install on 64-bit Linux systems, so I haven't been
>> able to even try it.
>>
>> I don't necessarily mind something that has to be installed outside of
>> the package system, as long as it works well.
>>
>> Are there others I'm missing?
>>
>> --Pat.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> wplug at wplug.org
>> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
>
>




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