How to "RecordMyDesktop"...
Posted: Sun 06 Aug 2017, 16:23
Afternoon, kiddiwinks.
Now, then. I know many of us like to be able to record what happens on our desktops, for various reasons. SimpleScreenRecorder is a very well-known app for doing just this, developed by Maarten Baert. Several compilations have been posted on the Forum at various times, and some of the more recent Pups have it installed by default, OOTB.
I use it myself, to great effect. But did you know that there's something even simpler in the repos of the Ubuntu-based Puppies (Tahr, Xenial.....even good old Precise)?
It's called (very aptly!) 'RecordMyDesktop'. Simple.....and obvious. Apparently, it's been there for years.
I came across it, earlier this afternoon, while I was perusing an article on HowToGeek. They mentioned it was available in the Ubuntu repos, so I decided to investigate. Here it is, in the Xenialpup PPM:-
Two parts to it; the base app itself, and a GTK+ graphical 'front-end'. It only takes moments to install, and, when finished, you have a Menu Entry for RecordMyDesktop. Clicking on it gives you this:-
Nothing to it. You can set the video and sound quality, as a percentage. You can select a 'region' of your screen to record; if this isn't selected, it records full-screen by default. You can choose where to save it, and under what name.....and there's the 'Record' button.
The 'Advanced' settings give you a few more options, under four different tabs; 'Files', 'Performance', 'Sound' & 'Misc'.
Two tips. Under the 'Sound' tab, change that 'DEFAULT' to 'default'; ALSA won't find it unless you do. And change the frequency from 22050 to 44100 Hz.
When it's finished, it spends a wee while encoding it; by default, the output is labelled with the .ogv extension (the Ogg Video format):-
There's an option to compress it, under the 'Performance' tab; I haven't yet tried this, although, apparently, you shouldn't bother. You degrade the video quality dreadfully if you do. You'll find it runs well over the 100% mark before it quits; this seems to be quite normal. I've got it installed in Xenialpup, Tahr 6.05, and Tahr64, and it's the same in all of them. When finished, unless you've specified differently before recording, the file will be in /root by default.
It plays back in most of our media players quite happily; VLC, MPlayer, and SMPlayer, too.
It seems quite a useful little app, and certainly works very well. I'm going to try uploading to YouTube in a bit, and see whether the .ogv format is accepted or not.
Edit:- Yep, the .ogv format is accepted by YouTube with no fuss whatsoever.
Well worth a look.
Mike.
Now, then. I know many of us like to be able to record what happens on our desktops, for various reasons. SimpleScreenRecorder is a very well-known app for doing just this, developed by Maarten Baert. Several compilations have been posted on the Forum at various times, and some of the more recent Pups have it installed by default, OOTB.
I use it myself, to great effect. But did you know that there's something even simpler in the repos of the Ubuntu-based Puppies (Tahr, Xenial.....even good old Precise)?
It's called (very aptly!) 'RecordMyDesktop'. Simple.....and obvious. Apparently, it's been there for years.
I came across it, earlier this afternoon, while I was perusing an article on HowToGeek. They mentioned it was available in the Ubuntu repos, so I decided to investigate. Here it is, in the Xenialpup PPM:-
Two parts to it; the base app itself, and a GTK+ graphical 'front-end'. It only takes moments to install, and, when finished, you have a Menu Entry for RecordMyDesktop. Clicking on it gives you this:-
Nothing to it. You can set the video and sound quality, as a percentage. You can select a 'region' of your screen to record; if this isn't selected, it records full-screen by default. You can choose where to save it, and under what name.....and there's the 'Record' button.
The 'Advanced' settings give you a few more options, under four different tabs; 'Files', 'Performance', 'Sound' & 'Misc'.
Two tips. Under the 'Sound' tab, change that 'DEFAULT' to 'default'; ALSA won't find it unless you do. And change the frequency from 22050 to 44100 Hz.
When it's finished, it spends a wee while encoding it; by default, the output is labelled with the .ogv extension (the Ogg Video format):-
There's an option to compress it, under the 'Performance' tab; I haven't yet tried this, although, apparently, you shouldn't bother. You degrade the video quality dreadfully if you do. You'll find it runs well over the 100% mark before it quits; this seems to be quite normal. I've got it installed in Xenialpup, Tahr 6.05, and Tahr64, and it's the same in all of them. When finished, unless you've specified differently before recording, the file will be in /root by default.
It plays back in most of our media players quite happily; VLC, MPlayer, and SMPlayer, too.
It seems quite a useful little app, and certainly works very well. I'm going to try uploading to YouTube in a bit, and see whether the .ogv format is accepted or not.
Edit:- Yep, the .ogv format is accepted by YouTube with no fuss whatsoever.
Well worth a look.
Mike.