Kazam Screencasting tool 0.1 released – the bar just got raised

By , Published September 5, 2010

Kazam screencasting tool has released it’s first version – and boy am I impressed.

We first introduced Kazam back in June of this year under the title ‘making screencasting tools modern‘. At the time we were immensely impressed with not only the idea but the beautiful execution in design proposed for the application. Sadly the design was just that – a design.

Until today.

Kazam 0.1 is ready for users to, well, use and whilst it still has a little way to go before it’s the big bad game changer we cited it as it is nonetheless the best screencasting tool available on Linux right now.


Features

Kazam currently supports both screen & audio capture and export of final file to YouTube and Videobin. It also makes use of an Indicator Applet!

Download

Kazam is early in development so do not expect it to be as refined or as stable as other applications on your desktop. That said if you’re keen to try it out anyway then the following PPA is the one you’re after: -

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:and471/kazam-daily-builds

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install kazam

Once installed Kazam can be launched from the ‘Applications > Sound & Video’ sub-menu.

To Do

The developers behind Kazam still have a lot of bases they need cover so if you’re hands are idle do jump in.

What needs doing?

Tip | Andrew

Images | Andrew

Related posts:

  1. Kazam – making screencasting tools modern
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  • Regunirun

    Hoooly COW. I wouldn’t say that this is the most elegant app for basic screencasting in ubuntu, I would say it is the most elegant app across ALL OSs!
    Damn, I want to start screencasting just to use this thing!

  • Regunirun

    Hoooly COW. I wouldn’t say that this is the most elegant app for basic screencasting in ubuntu, I would say it is the most elegant app across ALL OSs!
    Damn, I want to start screencasting just to use this thing!

  • Anonymous

    Its failing to install in maverick

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      Yeah getting the same here.

      • http://CoryClaxon.com/ CoryClaxon

        Same. Ubuntu 10.10 32-bit

    • http://twitter.com/_PixelPirate Joshua Pitts

      Same on Ubuntu 10.10 x64. This sucks :/

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ICMPZOXLM4DS5KBTDTDRKK34ZI Martin

      According to the developer, that’s because it uses a library called Matroska, and in 10.10 it’s called Matroska2.

      • daas88

        Then we just need to wait for a fix, it should be simple

      • Seahorse Pip

        add lucid reporsities and install matroska aside matroska 2? I did it that way =P

    • Seahorse Pip

      add old lucid reporsities and then install app and after install app remove the reporsities;)

      • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FZLZLJDCIHH5VCORAUS36TIKG4 Mas

        Nope, i just choose to wait ;)

    • https://launchpad.net/~and471 Andrew

      This should be fixed in the PPA now

  • Anonymous

    Its failing to install in maverick

  • http://slolinux.si kv1dr

    Thanks for removing dots from commands :) I like that :)And I got error:pycentral: pycentral pkginstall: error byte-compiling files (21)pycentral pkginstall: error byte-compiling files (21)dpkg: error processing kazam (–configure): subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1Errors were encountered while processing: kazamE: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)If I try to start kazam from terminal:~$ kazam Traceback (most recent call last): File “/usr/bin/kazam”, line 41, in from kazam.version import * File “/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/kazam/version. py”, line 2 VERSION=’0.1′ ^
    IndentationError: unexpected indent

    • http://twitter.com/damonmx Joel Lino

      the same problem in the install

    • Elisée

      Easy fix (both for Lucid & Maverick):

      gksudo gedit /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/kazam/version.py

      Remove all spaces before the 4 lines in the file
      Save & quit
      Run the install command again:

      sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install kazam

      • Elisée

        Running Maverick beta here, and even though it runs with the aforementioned fix, I couldn’t get to save the file or pass it on to PiTiVi.

        • Ivaylosc

          same problem here.can’t save the file.

      • http://mpscripts.com Thomas Boxley

        That worked, thanks

      • http://slolinux.si kv1dr

        It really works! Thank you :)

      • http://www.pablo-bloggt.de Pablo

        Worked. Programm is running now.
        But I cant save the record to my desktop.
        I choose location and the filename, klick save … but then, theres no file on my hdd.

    • https://launchpad.net/~and471 Andrew

      This should also be fixed in the PPA now

  • http://twitter.com/JasonOdoom Jason Odoom

    It failed to run in Lucid! There’s a problem!

  • http://manequin.pl manequin

    Polish translation in progress ;)

  • http://manequin.pl manequin

    Polish translation in progress ;)

  • http://openid-provider.appspot.com/Moshersam Sam Rose

    Just tried it out on Lucid with the fix mentioned before about erasing all the spaces in the version.py file.

    It doesn’t seem very dual monitor friendly at all :/ It’s very swish and very cool but dual monitor support is a must-have for me.

    • http://twitter.com/DrPFenderson Philippe K Fenderson

      Also doesn’t seem to like widescreen. It’s only showing my video as 800×600 – cropping out the rest of the screen.

      • Steve

        I posted a bug report about this a few hours ago.

  • Anonymous

    little bit of lag, but works well. Especially since it’s quite young. :D

    Although, I can’t seem to save anything?

    • Anonymous

      Or export to youtube. I guess it’s still a bit early to use since it doesn’t work at all for me yet.

  • Claudio

    this is my output:

    Configurazione di kazam (0+51~lucid1)…
    Compiling /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/kazam/version.py …
    Sorry: IndentationError: (‘unexpected indent’, (‘/usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/kazam/version.py’, 2, 4, ” VERSION=’0.1′n”))
    pycentral: pycentral pkginstall: error byte-compiling files (21)
    pycentral pkginstall: error byte-compiling files (21)
    dpkg: errore nell’elaborare kazam (–configure):
    il sottoprocesso vecchio script di post-installation ha restituito lo stato di errore 1
    Si sono verificati degli errori nell’elaborazione:
    kazam
    E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

    it fails to install

  • heyluc

    Export to YouTube is not working for me, in Lucid
    Someone else too ?

  • zekopeko

    It has a 2 item menu. Is that really needed? I would rather like to see a button in the lower right corner.

  • daas88

    I’ll help translating it to spanish :P

    • daas88

      Done^^

      • Anonymous

        I counted 14 words + the youtube categories and the file/help menu:)

      • Anonymous

        I counted 14 words + the youtube categories and the file/help menu:)

      • Anonymous

        I counted 14 words + the youtube categories and the file/help menu:)

  • http://twitter.com/david_bosman David Bosman

    French translation on its way ;)

  • http://reelbadcinema.com Erik Dan

    I am guessing there will be a Nixie Pixel video discussing this software.

    Reminds me, I really need to get a camera for recording.

  • Yi Sun-sin

    Is there also a normal applet/systray icon ? For people using a normal version of Gnome ?

    • Anonymous

      normal what :o

      • Yi Sun-sin

        Normal version of Gnome.
        Like in “Gnome, as it was intended to be by people that makes Gnome”. Instead of “Gnome, but with some strange modifications added by a third-party”.

    • http://dylanmccall.blogspot.com/ Dylan McCall

      libindicate will fall back to use the notification area, so as long as you have that library installed you’re fine.

      • Yi Sun-sin

        Well, I don’t have that library installed, since it is Ubuntu-specific, and I’m not using Ubuntu.

    • https://launchpad.net/~and471 Andrew

      Yes, I have built into Kazam to fall back to a Gtk.StatusIcon

      • Yi Sun-sin

        Cool !

  • Anonymous

    Beautiful. T^T Gnome users rejoice!

  • Travisman1994

    w00t!!!! I have to test this! I want it in esperanto. Is it in the launchpad to translate it?

    • Eclipse

      Ĉu vi eble povas mem traduki ĝin? ;)

    • Eclipse

      Ĉu vi eble povas mem traduki ĝin? ;)

  • Travisman1994

    The edge of my screen gets cut off. They need more resolution sizes. I have 1152×864.

  • http://twitter.com/xehoz Jorge Sousa

    Seriously? What’s all the buzz about? I guess it’s nice that they’re developing a gui, but this is nothing you can’t do already. Calling it “the best” is beyond comphreension.

    man ffmpeg

    It’s as extensive as it is powerful.

  • Pingback: » Kazam: 简易桌面屏幕录像工具 Wow! Ubuntu / Ubuntu 新闻、技巧、软件及游戏！

  • http://www.alozuldo.blogspot.com alozuldo

    Still needing help to translate it to spanish?

  • http://xlogon.net/maxime Paul-Georg M.

    First it needs effects, then, maybe, its the best screencasting tool available…..

  • Ubuntianer

    64bit version?

  • Ubuntianer

    64bit version?

  • https://launchpad.net/~davidnielsen David Nielsen

    This looks really good, I’ve been using gtk-recordmydesktop and istanbul but this has one function I really missed in both those, namely being able to record non-mic input (since the screencasts I tried recording with voice overs all turned out a unfortunate victims of my Tourette’s).

    • Anonymous

      You can redirect PulseAudio sound using PulseAudio Volume Control (found in USC). Go to the Recording and switch the profile to one of the other options. If you don’t hear Then go to the Recording tab and switch the app you want to record with to “Monitor of” or one of the other entries in the drop-down menu. This should then allow that recording app to record audio that is being played on the computer, though it will apparently not be able to record mic input.

  • http://www.darkredman.fr DarkRedman

    It doesn’t save the file, we can’t edit with kazam or Pitivi, can’t export the video to videobin.

    • Jman6495

      same problem :/

  • Ken Ham

    Hopefully this is better than — and actually outputs videos in an editable format — recordmydesktop tool.

  • http://CoryClaxon.com/ CoryClaxon

    Any word on whether this has been fixed to work in Ubuntu 10.04 (amd64)?

  • http://twitter.com/JasonOdoom Jason Odoom

    It didn’t work when i first installed it, but when I installed an update it worked. The cool part was the countdown. But it saves the screen cast as a .mkv file. I’ve never heard of that, I doubt YouTube will be able to play it!!!!!!!! I’ll stick to record my Desktop and DeVeDe for a while.

    • Anonymous

      Matroska is a container format, and is used by Google (the owners of YouTube in their WebM video format.

  • http://CoryClaxon.com/ CoryClaxon

    Okay… I got it to work, but it doesn’t record my full screen :/ I think its 800×600

    • http://CoryClaxon.com/ CoryClaxon

      1024×768*

    • http://CoryClaxon.com/ CoryClaxon

      1024×768*

    • http://CoryClaxon.com/ CoryClaxon

      1024×768*

  • Anonymous

    Does it capture audio output?

  • http://twitter.com/insecuresystem Tim Covel

    I get the following error when trying to install:

    kazam: Depends: libavcodec-52 but it is not installable

    In the repository there is a libavcodec52, but not a libavcodec-52.

  • http://www.twm-kd.com/ BigWhale

    After looking for some time for screen casting utility, I found this…

    “Kazam 0.1 is ready for users to, well, use and whilst it still has a little way to go before it’s the big bad game changer we cited it as it is nonetheless the best screencasting tool available on Linux right now.”

    Certainly not on Maverick Meerkat. Version from trunk doesn’t work as it should. You need to install python-keybinder and python-xlib packages in order to run the program. When you run it, You can select the screen you want to record (I have a dual monitor setup) and sound input. No recording feedback is displayed and there is no way to stop the recording unless you run Kazam from the terminal. Then you can press Q to stop ffmpeg. Then you’ll need to move the temporary file to some meaningful place.

    I wouldn’t call this 0.1 … :/

  • http://www.twm-kd.com/ BigWhale

    After looking for some time for screen casting utility, I found this…

    “Kazam 0.1 is ready for users to, well, use and whilst it still has a little way to go before it’s the big bad game changer we cited it as it is nonetheless the best screencasting tool available on Linux right now.”

    Certainly not on Maverick Meerkat. Version from trunk doesn’t work as it should. You need to install python-keybinder and python-xlib packages in order to run the program. When you run it, You can select the screen you want to record (I have a dual monitor setup) and sound input. No recording feedback is displayed and there is no way to stop the recording unless you run Kazam from the terminal. Then you can press Q to stop ffmpeg. Then you’ll need to move the temporary file to some meaningful place.

    I wouldn’t call this 0.1 … :/

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FVKXZ324JEQQI4C6XCFTQSUUBQ Andrei Sun

    I like it, but i’m still waiting for some updates/upgrades on this…

  • Ebubekir Karul

    i dont install kazam on 11.10, error ;

    ~ > sudo apt-get install kazam
    Reading package lists… Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information… Done
    Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
    requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
    distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
    or been moved out of Incoming.
    The following information may help to resolve the situation:The following packages have unmet dependencies: kazam : Depends: libavdevice52 but it is not installable or                  libavdevice-extra-52 but it is not installable         Depends: libavcodec-extra-52 but it is not installable         Recommends: python-gdata but it is not going to be installedE: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

 
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