NOTICE: gtk-recordMyDesktop is ONLY A FRONTEND to recordMyDesktop. You have to obtain and install that first. INSTALLING recordMyDesktop(the backend): First step is of course to obtain it. If you haven't done so already you can get the source code here: http://recordmydesktop.sourceforge.net To compile the program you have to go through the regular drill: ~$ gzip -d recordmydesktop-x.y.z.tar.gz ~$ tar -x recordmydesktop-x.y.z.tar ~$ cd recordmydesktop-x.y.z ~$ ./configure ~$ make ~$ sudo make install You will need the development headers for the following: alsa (libasound) X libXext libXdamage libogg libvorbis libtheora As well the regular headers, plus the ones for pthreads (both of which you should have if you have compiled anything else before). Of the above, the most likely to be missing are probably those of libXdamage and libtheora but any recent linux distribution should offer an easy way to get them. Compiling on *BSD or other *nix flavors is not going to work(because of the alsa dependency) but it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to change that(at least by disabling sound capture). Future versions might include support for OSS-based sound capture. INSTALLING gtk-recordMyDesktop(the frontend): ~$ gzip -d gtk-recordMyDesktop-x.y.z.tar.gz ~$ tar -x gtk-recordMyDesktop-x.y.z.tar ~$ cd gtk-recordMyDesktop-x.y.z ~$ sudo python setup.py install After this you should get a menu entry under multimedia. If you don't get one even after a logout/login from your WM you can launch the program from a terminal like this: ~$ gtk-recordMyDesktop