From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Nov 22 23:09:26 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: questions@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 05EE616A418 for ; Thu, 22 Nov 2007 23:09:26 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sat@cenkes.org) Received: from heka.cenkes.org (heka.cenkes.org [208.79.80.110]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DCA5313C43E for ; Thu, 22 Nov 2007 23:09:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sat@cenkes.org) Received: from amilo.cenkes.org (ppp85-141-134-164.pppoe.mtu-net.ru [85.141.134.164]) (Authenticated sender: sat) by heka.cenkes.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0567C242F83B; Fri, 23 Nov 2007 02:09:13 +0300 (MSK) Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 02:09:11 +0300 From: Andrew Pantyukhin To: Girish Venkatachalam Message-ID: <20071122230910.GF66812@amilo.cenkes.org> References: <20071121182639.GA66812@amilo.cenkes.org> <20071122043048.GA21707@saraswathy.susmita.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20071122043048.GA21707@saraswathy.susmita.org> X-OS: FreeBSD 8.0-CURRENT amd64 User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.16 (2007-06-09) Cc: questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: efficient terminal/console screencasting X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: infofarmer@FreeBSD.org List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 23:09:26 -0000 On Thu, Nov 22, 2007 at 10:00:48AM +0530, Girish Venkatachalam wrote: > On 21:26:41 Nov 21, Andrew Pantyukhin wrote: > > A while ago I needed to screencast a terminal to a class of > > students in real-time. It turned out to be quite straightforward > > with screen(1) in multiuser mode. > > screen(1) is really cool. :) > > > Now I want to record screencasts and allow people to watch them > > later. I'm looking at recordmydesktop, but the innefficiency > > strikes me: I'm operating in text-only environment, there's no > > need to record every frame as a flat bitmap. Whatever codec I > > choose, the files will be huge and of low quality. > > How about ttyrec(1) and ttyplay(1) ? Oh, yes. I've tried ttyrec a few years ago but have completely forgotten about it since. Thanks, it helps a lot! > > What I need is something like script(1) on steroids: > > - accurately record the complete state of my terminal window at > > any given moment > > - store it as a succession of updates, each represented in a > > text-based format (as opposed to pixel-based) > > If you want pixel based output then there are quite a few options but > none to my taste. As you mention they all are bloated. > > > - record timings correctly > > - allow for a method to record speech in the background > > This you have to do manually with sox(1). Not a big deal. A simple shell > script can do what you want. > > > - allow for a method to play it all back in sync > > This is no big deal either. If you want to create a video, then you have > to go in for pixel based stuff. You can however do efficient compression > and use a good codec like x264 or something. > > > Has anyone heard about any tool which would help me achieve at > > least some of my requirements? > > Your idea seems good enough to create an open source tool that does > exactly what you want. I'm still hoping to get by with some hacks, but you might be right. It's a pity and almost a surprise there's no widely available text-based video codec. Maybe I just need to try my luck on mplayer-related mailing lists. P.S. Please don't post to questions@ and freebsd-questions@ at the same time. It's the same list and you're just sending double mails.