Home / ubuntu / Questions / 108747
Accepted
Dustin Kirkland
Asked: 2012-02-29 23:40:41 +0800 CST

How do I get xvidcap working?

  • 772

Previously, I used xvidcap to record screencasts in Ubuntu.

I have upgraded to 12.04 LTS (precise) and it seems that xvidcap has been removed from the archive. Any suggestions on a replacement?

screencast

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    So I googled xvidcap. The site for it on sourceforge only has the code compiled into a deb for i386jaunty. It is not compatible.

    Fortunately, the source is available.

    sudo apt-get install subversion gcc autoconf libtool autopoint shtool libglib2.0-dev gtk+-2.0 libglade2-dev libxmu-dev libmp3lame-dev make

    Go do something else, it is going to be a while.

    (gcc and make should already be the latest versions, included for thoroughness. I recently reloaded my system, so you are in luck. These packages are real close to what someone without any tool chain should need.)

    cd ~/
svn co https://xvidcap.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/xvidcap xvidcap

    I went and did something else while it downloaded.

    cd /usr/share
sudo mkdir /automake-1.10
cd automake-1.10
ls -lia /usr/share/automake-1.11

    I symlinked all the files listed.

    sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/acinstall acinstall
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/am am
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/ansi2knr.1 ansi2knr.l
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/ansi2knr.c ansi2knr.c
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/ar-lib ar-lib
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/Automake Automake
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/compile compile
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/config.guess config.guess
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/config-ml.in config.ml.in
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/config.sub config.sub
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/COPYING COPYING
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/depcomp depcomp
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/elisp-comp elisp-comp
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/INSTALL INSTALL
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/install-sh install-sh
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/mdate-sh mdate-sh
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/missing missing
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/mkinstalldirs mkinstalldirs
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/py-compile py-compile
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/symlink-tree symlink-tree
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/texinfo.tex texinfo.tex
sudo ln -s /usr/share/automake-1.11/ylwrap ylwrap

cd ~/xvidcap/trunk
autoconf
autoreconf
automake --add-missing
./configure

    This is going to take a little while, I sat through it.

    make

    Go do something else for a bit.

    sudo make install

    test it out

    xvidcap

    If it works, stop playing with it and close it.

    Alright, let's add a menu item.

    !!!!(KDE only. Sorry, I run Kubuntu which doesn't use Gnome-- Gnome is the generally popular and --more importantly-- default window manager of Ubuntu. I'm sure there are instructions out there via 'the Google' for such a task. But this is the end of the line for Gnome users.)

    Right click the Kubuntu Application Manager in the kicker bar for the context menu. My application manager shows up as a Blue Square with a Kubuntu gear logo-- analogous to the Windows start button.

    Choose the "Edit Applications..." menu item

    Expand the program category you want it to appear in, I put mine in Multimedia.

    Then select the program you want xvidcap to appear under.

    Click the New Item menu icon in the upper left of the wizard, dialog, whatever...

    You will be prompted for a label. I typed "XVidCap Screen Capture" and hit enter.

    An mostly empty item will appear, the name block will be filled with the label you gave it.

    We can begin filling the rest of the empty detail blocks in the right side: Click the square box to set a visual icon. When I select the 'Other Icons' radio button, the xvidcap icon is right in there at the bottom. Once I click the icon I want, the icon is selected and the sub-wizard closes. You can fill in the description and comments field if you want. In the command field type "xvidcap".

    So, there we go. xVidCap on *buntu 12.04

    I wouldn't mind learning how to make a .deb. Yes, I can google it. But, I would prefer being walked through it on the phone. I go by BradChesney79 and am easy to find. And I use gmail. So put them together and I would love to contribute more.

    • 1

  2. I had a lot of trouble with xvidcap crashing while recording or dropping frames, such that audio and video got out of sync.

    I have much better experience recording with ffmpeg/avconv using the x11grab input device. I use the flashsv (Flash Screen Video) codec for good quality and moderate file size when recording a screen.

    • 1