Creating Screencasts on Ubuntu

For the barnraising this coming weekend, I know we want to be able to record everything. Finally I have taken the time to figure out how to create a screen cast on Ubuntu.

When you want to create a screencast in Linux, it seems like xvidcap is the way to go. Not very fancy, but it sure does its job. Below are some notes describing how xvidcap was easily installed on ubuntu (Fiesty). Presumably, other Debian based Linux distributions would also work following the information below. In addition, xvidcap offers a slackware package and source for installation.

installing xvidcap

Download xvidcap_1.1.6_i386.deb from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=81535&package_id=8...
Login as root
(Note: could not find key nor even an md5sum to verify this package before install - Use at your own risk)
Change directory to dir with xvidcap_1.1.6_i386.deb file

From command line (#):
# dpkg -i xvidcap_1.1.6_i386.deb

liblame0 was missing so it did not install
Run synaptic to install liblame0 (although probably could use apt-get, but this new to me)
Exit synaptic and run
# dpkg -i xvidcap_1.1.6_i386.deb
Sweet! it installed.
Start it:
# xvidcap
Click the record button, do something "inside" the redbox, then click the Stop button.

Unfortunately, it would not play back my new screencast.

Changed preferences to use ubuntu's movie player totem

• Right-click on the movie file name in the xvidcap bar
• Select Preferences
• Click the Commands tab.
• Change the Playback Command
  from: mplayer "${XVFILE}" &
  to: totem "${XVFILE}" &

It totally records screen and sound!