A tool for creating GIF screencasts of a terminal, with key presses overlaid.

Dependencies: wmctrl, byzanz-record (slightly patched screenkey already bundled). Only tested on GNOME on Ubuntu so far.

$ sudo ./setup.sh
$ newcast  # opens and casts a new terminal window, finishes recording on exit

Suggested use: symlink mkcast and newcast in /usr/local/bin (or just run setup.sh), and simply type (in GNOME) Alt+F2 newcast Enter for a quick mini-cast.

This even allows you to set up a gnome-terminal profile called "mkcast," letting you automatically start a command when it opens (such as vim) and finish when the command exits, customize the size or colors of the new terminal that is created, etc.

Usage: ./mkcast WINNAME DURATION [COMMAND (optional)]
Usage: ./newcast [MKCAST ARGS]

Examples:

# cast the window titled "Terminal" for 10 seconds
# (omitting -o will default to out.gif, also supports .webm and .ogg)
./mkcast Terminal 10 -o out.gif

# equivalent to the above, but creates a new terminal for you and finishes
# when the terminal exits instead of after a certain amount of time
./newcast

I chose GIF because I designed this with the intent that the mini-screencasts be supplemented by text with the full list of keystrokes and an explanation of what's actually happening (specifically, I wrote this with the forthcoming Vim Stack Exchange site in mind).

However, it would be trivial to replace byzanz-record with recordmydesktop and output real video files. That would defeat the original purpose of being a "mini-screencast," though, since it couldn't be ex. easily embedded in ex. a blog post with no extra work for the reader.

The name has a double meaning: mini-key-cast, or make cast (like mkdir).