How to take a Screenshot in Linux

Prelude

The easiest way to take a screenshot in Linux is to use the Imagemagick suite (installed by default on most current distributions).

Different Kinds of Screenshots

Whole Screen : type import filename, this will change your pointer into a plus sign, right-click to capture, e.g. import screen.jpg.

Single Window : type import -frame filename, this will change your pointer into a plus sign, right-click to capture, e.g. import -frame window.jpg.

Whole Screen after a Delay : type sleep 5; import filename, this will change your pointer into a plus sign after 5 seconds, right-click to capture, e.g. sleep 5; import screen.jpg.

Command-line Screenshots

You can take a screenshot of another virtual terminal by typing cat /dev/vcs1 > screenshot.txt (the vcs1 corresponds to the function-key you pressed, for example vcs2 would be for the virtual console on F2.