How to use Vokoscreen to Record Videos on Ubuntu

Vokoscreen is a screen recording tool that can be used to record educational videos, live recordings of the browser, installation, videoconferences, etc. You can capture an alone video or video and sound (via ALSA or PulseAudio). The program is very simple and uses a minimalistic GUI. It also can capture your face using a webcam at the same time, so this feature is especially suitable for screencasting purposes. Another feature is the direct capture of IEEE1394 digital cameras.

In this article, we will explain how you can install the Vokoscreen utility through the Ubuntu UI. We will also tell you how to record videos by making custom recording settings. This program uses FFmpeg features and saves the capture in formats like AVI, MP4, FLV, and MKV for video and MP3 for audio.

We have run the commands and procedures mentioned in this article on a Ubuntu 18.04 LTS system.

Vokoscreen Installation on Ubuntu

On your Ubuntu desktop Activities toolbar/dock, click the Ubuntu Software icon.

In the Software Manager, click the search icon and then enter Vokoscreen in the search bar. The search results will list the relevant entries as follows:

The Vokoscreen entry listed here is the one maintained by Ubuntu Bionic Universe. Click on this search entry to open the following view:

Click the Install button to begin the installation process. The following authentication dialog will appear for you to provide your authentication details.

Please note that only an authorized user can add/remove and configure software on Ubuntu. Enter your password and click the Authenticate button. After that, the installation process will begin, displaying a progress bar as follows:

Vokoscreen will then be installed on your system and you will get the following message after a successful installation:

Through the above dialog, you can choose to directly launch Vokoscreen and even Remove it immediately for whatever reason.

The same version of the software can be installed through the Ubuntu command line as well. Open the Terminal using the Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut and then enter the following commands as a sudo user:

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install vokoscreen

Launch Vokoscreen and Record Videos

You can access Vokoscreen from the Ubuntu application launcher bar as follows, or directly access it from the applications listing:

You can also launch this application through the command line using this command:

$ vokoscreen

Screen Capturing Settings

The following “Screen” view will open when you launch the tool for the first time:

You can see that you have three options for screen recording; Fullscreen, A specific Window, an Area on the screen. Other options you can customize include:

• The first thing you can select is if you want to capture Display 1(your current built-in Ubuntu display), another secondary, or All displays.
• You can turn the Magnification option on, and also select Dialog options for magnification. This will help you in turning focus on an area of a screen by making it appear prominent.
• Turning on the Showkey option will display the key you typed during a recording.
• Turning on the Showclick option will highlight the area you clicked on during a recording.
• The countdown, in seconds, gives you some time to get ready before the recording starts.

Other buttons that you see on this tab are the Start, Stop, Pause, Play and Send button which you can use to manage your recording.

Audio Settings

The Audio settings tab view looks like this:

Through this view you can make your input audio device settings such as:

• Select the Pulse option in order to select Pulse as input mode and then choose the input device from the available options.
• Select the Alsa option in order to select alsa as input mode and then choose the input device from the available options.

Recording settings

The Recording settings tab view looks like this:

Through this view you can make the following settings:

• Frames per second
• The video format
• Videocodec options
• Audiocodec options
• The last option lets you choose if you want to record mouse cursor in your videos or not.

The Settings tab

This is how the Settings view looks like:

You can select the following options here:

• The location where your videos will be saved
• The player in which your videos will play
• The default recorder for your videos
• You can also select if you want Vokoscreen to be minimized when the recording starts.
• A vokoscreen menu also appears in the systray:

You can choose from the Settings view if you want this menu to appear in the systray or not.

The Webcam settings

The Webcam view that appears as follows lets you choose the webcam for recording, from available devices through a dropdown:

• The last tab is the information tab that has links to useful resources such as the official website, mailing list, developer and support links

So this was all about the installation and use of Vokoscreen. Now it is all up to your creative skills to use this tool in the best possible and informative manner.