A screencast is the recording of computer screen (aka screen capture) with the help of screen recording software. If you want to convert these screencasts into animated GIFs to use them on your blog or website, then this tutorial will explain this using two methods under Ubuntu/Linux Mint.
Method 1
The first method consists of using Byzanz which allows to record screencasts as GIFs. To install it under Ubuntu 12.10/12.04/11.10 or Linux Mint 13/12, open the terminal and run these commands:
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:fossfreedom/byzanz
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y byzanz
You can now use this comman to record GIF screencasts (replace details with your own):
byzanz-record --duration=15 --delay=2 --cursor --x=65 --y=88 --width=666 --height=500 output.gif
For more help about the use of Byzanz, run this command:
byzanz-record –help
Note: The GIF file will be saved in the current terminal location.