LinC: a simple screen grabber tool for Linux

By Maximiliano Sbrocca

I currently work on a project that uses Techsmith Jing as a Corporate Tool. Jing is used to create videos for demos and to reproduce bugs on tracking tools among other things. However, Jing has one big problem: it can only be run on MAC and Windows systems. For that reason, creating a video for a demo was a tough task for co-workers with Linux stations.

After some research, I realized that Techsmith had never planned the Linux migration of Jing. After exploring different tools with the same features that Jing offers in the market, I could see that none of them fulfilled my expectations. I suggested to one of my coworkers, “What if we create a Jing Linux version using Python?” He agreed and we picked up the challenge and started the development process of LinC.

LinC was born out of the necessity to create screenshots and screen video captures on Linux systems and share them on the Internet. LinC is now a Beta (rather Alpha :D) the new version has helped me a lot with my daily tasks.

The tool was built with Python 2.7, using TKInter as GUI package. This technology, allows LinC to run on Mac, Windows and Linux.

LinC’s main features are (http://i.imgur.com/uha6avD.png)

• Screenshots: Select the screen region you want to capture. Once the region is selected, you can save the screenshot to disk or share it on Intenet through three different servers http://i.imgur.com/y7F9LFS.png.

• Video Captures: This alpha level feature is only available for Linux, but it will later on be implemented on another OS.  Select a screen region to record. Once selected, you can choose between records with sound or without sound.

Because server share is not implemented yet, once you stop the video record, it is automatically saved to disk.

http://i.imgur.com/HKrQ0Th.png

Today, LinC is a free tool and comments and feedback are welcomed. You can download LinC code here:  https://bitbucket.org/msbrocca/screen-capturer.

There, in the overview section, you’ll find the Readme.md file that explains how to install it, all the requirements and how to use it. You can also use the issues section to create tickets to improve the tool.

Maximiliano Sbrocca is a talented and accomplished Software Engineer with extensive background in Java and Python technologies. He has proven expertise when using new tools and technical developments to drive improvements throughout an entire software development lifecycle.