Educating the Open-source Community With Showmedo

Although as important as the software it supports, education and documentation are relatively neglected in the Open-source world. Coders love to code, and explaining how best to use or improve the software tends to be deferred or even sidelined.

At Showmedo we believe the community can play a vital role here and also say thanks for the tools and software that make our lives easier. If you have a piece of software you love or a programming langugage you are enthusiastic about, why not make a screencast showing others how to use it? All the stuff you wish you'd been told, the tips, tricks, insights that would have saved you time and frustration.

Screencasting is easier than you think, and we're happy to help you. You can email us for advice or just use some of the how-to screencasts on the site. This screencasting learning-path is a good place to start.

[021] Configuring CamStudio 2.0 On Windows XP (1/3)

in series: [DEPRECATED] Screencasting On a Windows Machine

video tutorial by Ian Ozsvald

Name: [002] Ian Ozsvald
Member: 51 months
Authored: 181 videos
Description: I am the co-founder of ShowMeDo (see http://showmedo.com/about), author of `The Screencasting Handbook <http://thescreencastinghandbook.com>`_ and the founder of the professional screencast production ...

Our authors tell us that feedback from you is a big motivator. Please take a few moments to let them know what you think of their work.

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(Showmedo is undergoing major changes. To report any problems viewing the videos please email us and include browser and OS specifics. Cheers - Kyran.)

CamStudio 2.0 is a free utility that lets you make ShowMeDos. There are plenty of options that can be configured - here we show you the right set of options to use so that you can start making your own ShowMeDos.

Note - be sure to check our Configuring CamStudio and Requirements pages in the wiki for details of how to record your own ShowMeDo screencasts.

2nd Note - note that we now prefer to use the CamStudio Lossless Codec rather than the MS Video Codec 1 mentioned in this video. We can use the MS Video Codec but we really prefer the excellent CamStudio codec.

windows wiki videos video tools tool start software showmedos showmedo set screencasts screencasting screencast requirements replacement record pages notes misc making make machine free demonstrating date configurations camstudio available XP

Got any questions?

Get answers in the ShowMeDo Learners Google Group.

Video statistics:

Video's rank shown in the most popular listing
Video plays: 945 (since July 30th)
Plays in last week: 4
Published: Sometime before 1st March 2007 (in other words - we don't remember!)

Thank-yous, questions and comments

If this video tutorial was helpful please take some time to say thank-you to the authors for their hard work. Feel free to ask questions. Let the author know why their video tutorial was useful - what are you learning about? Did the video tutorial save you time? Would you like to see more?

You may also want to see our ShowMeDo Google Group to speak to our active users and authors.

10. anonymous Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:34

Nice and clear although it is marked as deprecated.

9. anonymous Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:24

Alot of important information very understandable. Verygood!

8. anonymous Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:59

How do you get the CamStudio SWF producer to create a progress bar so that you can drag to the point in the video you wish to go to?

7. anonymous Tue, 19 May 2009 20:57

Clear and concise

Wanting to assess whether to use this freebee or buy a similar product before we lose our budget

6. anonymous Tue, 27 May 2008 18:48

Thank you. Was looking for the compression issues. Did learn but not that.

5. anonymous Wed, 12 Sep 2007 06:41

Thank you very much!

That was very imformative for me!

4. Ian Ozsvald Tue, 06 Feb 2007 15:13

Hi Jack. I really ought to update these screencasting videos, we've learned so much in the last 6 months!

We have more tips and help now, there is also a section in the wiki detailing all the knowledge you'd need (see the link right at the top of this page - We Need You!).

Cheers,

Ian.

3. Jack Palmer Tue, 06 Feb 2007 15:09

good information,

left me making a video, with the knowledge that if I create a ShowMeDo that it would meet your requirements to get the video posted to the net

2. Ian Ozsvald Sun, 30 Jul 2006 16:34

Hi Kelie. The Microsoft Video Codec is an old codec, it does indeed produce very large files. For ShowMeDos we transcode the MS Video Codec 1 files using QuickTime which results in a much smaller file (about 1mb per minute for a 640x480 screencast).

If you just want to compress the files to send them to us, you can use <a href="http://www.7-zip.org/">7-zip</a>, it works just like WinZip but produces much smaller files. If you want to make smaller AVIs for your own use you'll either have to transcode them using a utility like QuickTime (which you have to purchase from Apple), or you can reduce the quality settings.

You could also use a different codec (e.g. <a href="http://camstudio.org/">CamStudioCodec10</a>). Be aware that if you use a different codec and you want other people to watch the video, they'll need the codec installed on their machine too.

Kelie Feng Sun, 30 Jul 2006 15:40

Hello Ian,

Thanks a lot for the ShowMeDo about CamStudio. I can definitely make use of this software. After doing a couple of test recordings, I found the video qualities are good enough but file sizes are quite big, about 60MB for less than 60 secs of video. I'd like to know what is the way to compress the video (.avi) file.

Best regards, Kelie Feng