Istanbul

Home page: http://live.gnome.org/Istanbul

Based on gstreamer, written mostly in python, Istanbul hasn't been updated since 2007. Once started, it sits in the system tray as button waiting to be pressed in order to start recording. To stop recording simply tap the button again. Istanbul creates ogg/vorbis encoded videos which can be very quickly played back and/or distributed.

Installation

$ sudo apt-get install istanbul

Recording

Applications --> Sound & Video --> Istanbul Desktop Session Recorder

Tips: Compile the latest version from source, and set your screen resolution low to ensure a reasonable recording frame rate.