Converting Vobsub (.sub/.idx) to .srt in Linux

Mencoder rips the subtitles for you as I just posted. But what if you want a .srt file? The problem is that vobsub subtitles used in DVDs are made as images. This means you first need to convert the images back to text. That is usually done with the help of OCR. And not differently for subtitles. But there's already a special open source Linux program available for that purpose here.

How to Rip Subtitles with Mplayer or better Mencoder

Subtitle ripping changed recently. It used to be done with mplayer, but now it's actually done with mencoder. The current command is

mencoder -o /dev/null dvd:// -oac copy -ovc copy -vobsubout subtitle

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The subtitle files will be called subtitle.idx and subtitle.sub.

Fixing OpenSUSE's 'No Devices Matches MBR Identifier'

Check the file in the subfolder boot/grub/mbrid. Do sudo fdisk -l and check that the ID of your usb stick is the same as the one in the file. If not, change it. Just deleting the file won't work, then the code will assume you want to boot from CD or DVD and fail if it doesn't find one. But you can also try to boot with the kernel parameter nombridcheck. But unfortunately for me nothing worked. It seems OpenSUSE USB boot is pretty broken ...

Step by Step Tutorial to the Android Development Setup

Check out this great screenshot-laden extensive tutorial to setup Eclipse and the Android SDK.

Powertop 2.0 beta

Check out the new version of powertop. It has still to be compiled from source code. Here's the release post

Clearing the Cache and Data of the Android Facebook App

The Facebook App likes to grow and grow in Android. The reason is that it never cleans cache and data. And you often can't even do it manually in Settings, Applications, Facebook, Clear Cache or Clear Data. But it turns out all you need to do it log out and back in and the cache is gone. Of course if you want a real fix, don't forget to file a bug report inside the app.

XBMC with VAAPI on Poulsbo (Intel GMA500) or other VAAPI Systems

It's not possible directly right now due to limitations of the existing GMA 500 drivers (IEGD, PSB, ...) and probably other vaapi drivers. But if you have mplayer-vaapi running, it's really easy - because you can set up xbmc to use external players with XBMC 10.