How to capture Linux Screen

Question

Hi,
I would like to know if is possible capture Linux screens, in
order to produce Linux screencasts using Captivate 3.
I'm thinking about it. Are there ways to do it?
Thanks in advice.

Answer 1

Hi again,
I don't actually use Linux. I was just suggesting an
alternate method that would work across operating systems.
Captivate works primarily by showing still images (individual
screen captures), which when viewed as a series of slides,
simulates the behavior of an application.
We take our still images as .PNG files using SnagIt on
Windows, but there are numerous alternatives for pretty much every
operating system.
I can't offer any recommendations for Linux, so I would
suggest doing a web search for "screen capture utility <linux
distribution>", where <linux distribution> is the name the
distribution you're looking to take screenshots in (i.e. Ubuntu,
Red Hat, etc.).
Since, as you noted, Captivate only works in Windows, the
basic idea would be this:
1) In Linux, launch the application you wish to capture.
2) Launch your screen capture utility in Linux (some
utilities are built into various Linux distributions, others
aren't... you'll need to decide which one you want to use).
3) In your Linux application, carry out the desired workflow,
taking a screen capture after EVERY change in your application
(every moust click, every text entry, every menu being selected,
screen data changing, etc.). This series of screenshots will be
used to recreate the process in Captivate.
4) Save each screen capture in .PNG format using a name that
reflects what the capture shows (such as
"main_screen__before_filemenu_clicked.png",
"main_screen_after_filemenu_clicked.png", and so on).
Depending on the process(es) you are documenting, you may end
up with a lot of images, so be consistent with your naming
convention and it will be easier to find the right image later.
I've found that I can pretty much rely on the creation date to
determine the order of screenshots, but every once in awhile I have
to go back and take one that I missed, at which point having a
detailed filename is very helpful.
5) After capturing all your screenshots, copy them to your
Windows machine. This can be done via a USB drive, burning them to
a CD, copying to a shared network location... whatever.
6) On the Windows machine, launch Captivate and create a new
project at the same size as the application you captured in Linux.
7) Insert each image as a background in Captivate (or, if
you're technically advanced, crop only the changed elements out of
the image and insert it as an image over an unchanged common
background).
8) Add a caption as needed to provide instructions to the
user.
9) Add any interactions needed to recreate the functionality
in the Linux application (buttons, click boxes etc.).
10) Insert a new slide and repeat steps 7-9 until you have
recreated the functionality of the original application using all
your static screenshots.
The process seems laborious at first, but you can really
start banging out the slides once you get the process down.
You don't get the automatic captions and automatic creation
of interactive objects that would come from capturing directly from
Captivate, but in our case, Captivate's built-in screen capture
tool does such a poor job with our particular applications that
we're better off doing everything ourselves.
Best of luck,
John