EasyScreenCast

EasyScreenCast simplifies the use of the video recording function integrated in gnome shell, allows quickly to change the various settings of the desktop recording. Copyright (C) 2013-16 Borsato Ivano.

• Web Page
• GNOME Shell Extensions Page
• Video

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Note: Gnome Shell 42 brings in a new screenshot/screencast UI, which might already be all you need. Just run it via the default shortcut Ctlr+Alt+Shift+R.

This extension provides more options to configure the screencast, e.g. quality settings and webcam support.

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Requirements

• Gnome Shell 3.38+
• Gstreamer 1.x [ common function/webcam support ]
• gst plugins ugly [ x264 support ]
• gst plugins base [ common function/theora support ]
• gst plugins good [ mp4/mkv/webm/vp8/vp9 support ]

License Info

EasyScreenCast is free software distributed under the GNU GPL. All files are under GPL v3. read COPYING for more information about license.

How to install

there are several methods:

1. From github releases. Just go to https://github.com/EasyScreenCast/EasyScreenCast/releases/latest and download the latest zip file. Then install it (adjust the file name accordingly):

   gnome-extensions install --force EasyScreenCast_1.5.0_42.zip
   

   And logout/login again to activate the extension.

2. From gnome extension site, just go on this page and click/touch on the button ON, that's all.

3. By installing the Debian/Ubuntu package "gnome-shell-extension-easyscreencast":

   sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-easyscreencast
   

4. From github repo, if you want the most up-to-date version, just do these simple steps

   git clone https://github.com/EasyScreenCast/EasyScreenCast.git
   cd EasyScreenCast
   make
   make install
   

   Note: You'll need to install the following dev dependencies once:

   sudo apt install gettext jq intltool
   

How to test changes

You can run a new session to test changes to the installed extension:

dbus-run-session -- gnome-shell --nested

How to view the logs

You must enable the verbose logs in options window and after that you can find the logs by typing this on terminal:

journalctl --since=today --no-pager --output=cat | grep ESC
journalctl /usr/bin/gnome-shell --since=today --no-pager --output=cat

to open the option windows from terminal try that on terminal:

gnome-extensions prefs EasyScreenCast@iacopodeenosee.gmail.com

Translation

If you want to help with translations, just follow these simple step:

1 - Create a new folders for the translations(if NOT exist), where $lang is a code language [https://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/html_node/Usual-Language-Codes.html#Usual-Language-Codes]

mkdir -p locale/$lang/LC_MESSAGES

2 - Translate the string with the program Poedit by using a .pot files (locale/messages.pot)

3 - Save these files in the same directory of .pot files, use the code language for the name of them (locale/$lang.po)

4 - Convert in binary these .po files, where $lang is a code language, with that command:

msgfmt locale/$lang.po -o locale/$lang/LC_MESSAGES/EasyScreenCast@iacopodeenosee.gmail.com.mo

Converting to GIF

There are a wide variety of video editors that should be able to convert the screencasts to GIFs. An easy way to convert a file using the command line is:

ffmpeg -i _filepath -pix_fmt rgb24 _dirpath/_filename.gif

For more information see for example:

• How do I convert a video to GIF using ffmpeg, with reasonable quality?

Test matrix

Distribution / gnome-shell	Installation	Screen Recording	+Video Recording	+Audio Recording
Debian 11 Bullseye (gnome-shell 3.38)	✔	✔	✔	✔
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (gnome-shell 42.2)	✔	✔	✔	✔
Debian Experimental (gnome-shell 43)	✔	✔	✔	✔

Note: Only wayland sessions, always a fresh install of the linux distribution. Screen cast was the whole screen. Quality setting: FPS 30, VP8, webm container.

X11 session is not tested.