Shortcut Keys – How to Set a Shortcut to Screenshot a Selected Area in Gnome 12.04

Ok, found this for X windows:

FVWM Forums • View topic - Thumbnailing a Window on another Viewport

As to why you can't access a window (that is, take a picture of it when it is not on the same desk/page as the current viewport) is because windows that are not on the current page are unmapped. This is true when one changes pages/desks -- the windows are unmapped, and the windows on the current viewport are remapped.

So, I guess that means what I want is impossible? Although there are two workarounds:

• use xrandr to increase the virtual size of (each of the four) viewports

This is what works for me - first query to see which output you want, then execute:

$ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1024 x 600, maximum 4096 x 4096
LVDS1 connected 1024x600+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   1024x600       60.0*+
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

$ xrandr --output LVDS1 --panning 1600x768

... see also X/Config/Resolution - Ubuntu Wiki

• Use xvfb for virtual render

Got this via x11 - Remote offscreen rendering - Server Fault, also see Xvfb - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for examples. This is what worked for me - each command goes in own terminal (as some of them are meant to be services)

# start xvfb as display 1 - note the "screen 0" there refers to "its own" screen 0; should set it to 24-bit color

Xvfb :1 -screen 0 1600x1200x24 -pixdepths 3 -fp /usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1

# start metacity on display 1 (would start gdm, but [Bug #598848: gdm no longer works with xvfb](https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/598848)
# needed to we have title bars, and possibility to move windows around 

DISPLAY=:1 metacity

# start application (here web-browser arora) again on display 1

DISPLAY=:1 arora

# start vnc server, which will bridge display 1 to port 5900
# note - this command exists, however starts a server in background 

x11vnc -display :1 -bg -nopw -listen localhost -xkb

# start vnc viewer on port 5900 - so we can see display 1:
# note also - when vncviewer exits, it also will kill the x11vnc server

vncviewer -FullColor=1 localhost:5900

The problem here is that not all parts of the OS are initialized - so there are no window decoration, and only basic X fonts; although, apps may find their own fonts, as seen below:

xvfb looks almost ideal to me - since I could basically set up an "invisible" environment, as big as I want, and take screenshots directly from it (using xwd). The problem is that I cannot have a window on "my" DISPLAY=:0, then switch it to the 'virtual' DISPLAY=:1 for screenshotting, then bring it back to DISPLAY=:0. Then one must set up an application specifically for xvfb; and if so happens you need more size - then the whole chain above needs to be restarted.

On the other hand, I find working with 4 workspaces and large viewports (shwere the mouse moves you around within a viewport) a bit confusing - then again, can change the size there on the fly and nothing needs to be restarted; and plus I can use any of the usual screenshot tools (but I'd still have to switch viewports).

Needless to say, I'd still love to hear about a possible command line solution that could do this kind of screenshotting in one go :)

I'm not sure if Ubuntu 12 has a similar settings tools. Pull up System Settings and look at your Keyboard settings. Shortcuts contain many keys that your system may be expect you to use. Make sure you don't have a conflict with another keyboard shortcut and check that your screenshot shortcut is what you are expecting to use. I've disabled the general ALT key for dashboard that might interfere.

This is what it looks like in Ubuntu 13: