Recording screencasts with Linux (Ubuntu/Kubuntu)

Well, lots of people want to create screencasts with linux but have no idea on how to begin, so I decided to write a little step by step using Ubuntu/Kubuntu, I hope it helps some one.

You’ll see that there are not that many steps

1. To install all the tools we’ll use just run the following command
2. $sudo apt-get install gtk-recordmydesktop mplayer mencoder ffmpeg
3. To start recording your screencast, just open the application gtk-recordmydesktop and follow the on screen insctructions
4. If the recorded video is in a big resolution (in my case 1280×800) you will only be able to play it with mplayer, it seems that Theora have memory issues
5. The recorded video is in Ogg Theora format, that can be played only in linux, there is one decoder for windows only, so lets turn it into something usefull.
6. $mencoder [file name].ogg -o [file name].avi -ovc lavc -oac lavc
7. Ready! Now it can be played in any platform
8. You still want to turn it into a screencast or the web?
9. $ffmpeg -i [arquivo].avi [arquivo].flv
10. Ready! now we have a Flash Video with streaming support for publishing it on the web, you just need a player.

If you work with flash, you can create your own player, I do not think it will be much trouble, but this is not my case, so I’ll use this open source player that does the job very well! JW FLV Player

Every thing ready! Now you can make your web site full of videos

I think this post is the simpler and most useful step by step for creating screen casts with linux that I have seen around the net

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