Add Comment | Related Links | TrackBack
Related Content | Shareomatic!

Question regarding screen capture

Chieh,

I saw your article on “How to get the IBM PC Camera to work with Windows XP”. I also have one of these cameras but haven’t used in a long time, and will try your solution on XP.

What I wanted to ask you was how you were able to take snaps or import screens into your article? Did you use Front Page? What I want to do is import screens from a Linux installation, but since there will be no operating system, I won’t have software to capture what I want. I think I can also remotely capture screens via serial port but wanted to know how you did it. Many thanks.

S. Coleto
Fri, 26 May 2006 13:59:20 -0700

I used the screen capture functionality in Gimp (a free image editing software). But like you said, you won't be able to run such an application while installing Linux.

In your case, the easiest way to capture the Linux installation process is to use a digital camera and a tripod.

Set up your tripod in from of the monitor. Then attach the camera to the tripod. Adjust the camera and tripod until you get the entire monitor screen within the electronic viewfinder frame.

Manually set shutter speed so that it is slower than your monitor's refresh rate. A monitor refreshing at 60 Hz means it refreshes 60 times a second. You'll want a shutter speed that is slower than that, say 1/50th of a second. If you have an interlaced monitor, your shutter speed has to be twice as slow, say 1/20th of a second.

Turn the flash off and set the digital camera to manual mode. Manually set focus. Manually set aperture (fire a few test shots and see if the screen is exposed properly.

Once you have everything set-up, start your installation process. You'll be able to capture the screens along the way.

Chieh Cheng
Tue, 05 Sep 2006 16:48:21 -0700

Add Comment | Related Links | TrackBack
Related Content | Shareomatic!