Record Your Ubuntu Desktop and Convert to .AVI

Alot of people ask me the easiest way to record their experiences while using Ubuntu. You can do this several ways but using an application named recordMyDesktop seems to be the most popular method. This video tutorial will show you how to install recordMyDesktop, create a video in .ogv format, and convert it to an .avi.

recordMyDesktop is available in the Ubuntu 9.10 Ubuntu Software Center and is just a few clicks away from being installed on your machine. Once installed you'll find recordMyDesktop has a simple, easy-to-use interface and allows you to record specific windows or custom areas of your screen using the screen preview thumbnail and change video and sound quality using the slider bars. recordMyDesktop will create .ogv files when you record your desktop.

You might want to make your .ogv files into a more usable format such as an .avi. To do this, open your Ubuntu terminal window and type this.

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

Now type in

ffmpeg -i home/andrew/Desktop/test.ogv home/andrew/Desktop/test.avi

Replace home/andrew/Desktop/test.ogv with the path to the file you want to convert.

Replace home/andrew/Desktop/test.avi with the path and name of the file you want to create.

That's it, we've created a video and converted our .ogv file to an .avi on the Ubuntu desktop. Although it's not feature packed and full of options, recordMyDesktop solves a common problem for Ubuntu users. Note: if you can't play the .AVI files on you Ubuntu desktop at first you will need to install the ubuntu-restricted-extras package.

You can do this by typing

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

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