Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

Simple Screen Recorder (SSR), a Qt desktop recorder for Linux, was updated to version 0.3.0 today, bringing profile support, a new, more flexible OpenGL recording system, native support for mono microphones and other interesting changes.

The tool comes with basically all the features you need in a screencast app: record the entire screen (with multi-monitor support), record a fixed rectangle, follow the cursor, record OpenGL applications (which can be used to record games), record audio input (PulseAudio, JACK and ALSA), options to scale the video, to record (or not) the cursor, to pause/resume the recording and so on. It even has experimental live streaming support.

Simple Screen Recorder can record your screen using any container (MP4, MKV, OGG, WebM and so on) and audio/video codec (H.264, VP8, Theora for videos and Vorbis, mp3, AAC, etc. for audio) supported by libav, with configurable bit rate, etc.

For more information on Simple Screen Recorder, check out our initial article about it: SimpleScreenRecorder: Powerful Screen Recording Software For Linux

Changes in the latest Simple Screen Recorder 0.3.0:
  • added profile support;
  • new, more flexible OpenGL recording system (glinject-next branch merged);
  • more robust sound notifications;
  • show progress dialog while flushing the encoders;
  • improved hotkey support using XInput2;
  • improved synchronizer;
  • native support for mono microphones (plughw no longer needed);
  • added source detection for ALSA;
  • partially rewritten output backend;
  • improved mouse following algorithm;
  • new icon;
  • bugfixes.

Here are a few screenshots with the latest Simple Screen Recorder 0.3.0:

Simple Screen Recorder

Simple Screen Recorder

Simple Screen Recorder


Below you can watch a quick Simple Screen Recorder demo video recorded using... the tool itself (the video is old, but it should be enough to get an idea on what the app can do and to checkout the quality of the screencasts recorded using this tool):


(direct video link)

For more screencasts created using Simple Screen Recorder, check out the latest videos from the WebUpd8 YouTube channel - I've been using Simple Screen Recorder to record the WebUpd8 screencasts for about a year now.


Install Simple Screen Recorder in Ubuntu / Linux Mint


Ubuntu / Linux Mint (and derivatives) users can install Simple Screen Recorder by using its official PPA. To add the PPA and install the application, use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:maarten-baert/simplescreenrecorder
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install simplescreenrecorder

For H.264 support, you'll need to install some extra packages:
sudo apt-get install libavcodec-extra-* libavformat-extra-*
Ubuntu 64bit: if you want to record 32bit games, make sure you also install simplescreenrecorder-lib:i386:
sudo apt-get install simplescreenrecorder-lib:i386

For other Linux distributions, see the instructions available on the Simple Screen Recorder homepage.

If you encounter bugs, report them @ GitHub.