Menu
One of the most popular methods for installing Kodi on a Raspberry Pi is via LibreElec. LibreELEC is a Linux distribution or “Linux distro,” an operating system based on the Linux kernel. It is an operating system designed to load just enough software to allow a computer to run Kodi.
The main convenience in using LibreELEC is that it is a more productive way to run Kodi as to using a more hefty operating system like Windows or Mac OS. Because of this, you can typically run LibreELEC on a less robust HTPC without ceding quality picture or sound. Bottom line, using LibreELEC gets you better execution from your HTPC without having to expend extra money on gear. Kodi is one of the most prominent media center application on earth because the open-source program makes it easy to organize local files and watch streaming media on a wide variety of devices, all with the same highly customizable interface and user-friendly features. And for all of its capabilities, Kodi is actually quite a inponderous program, perfectly satisfactory for executing on old PCs and other gadgets – including the minute and all-purpose Raspberry Pi.
Kodi isn’t an operating system, of course, but there area number of lightweight operating systems that work on the Raspberry Pi while using Kodi as their front end and user interface. The most popular of these are LibreELEC and OSMC. For LibreELEC, you’ll have two choices: NOOBS or a direct installation.
NOOBS, or “New Out Of the Box Software is the perfect way for newbies to choose and install an appropriate operating system on the Raspberry Pi. NOOBS is the name, the following is the how of installation. You can even purchase an SD card with NOOBS pre-loaded! How easy is that? If you want to learn how to install NOOBS yourself as a learning exercise, continue on.
You’re going to use your computer to put NOOBS on an SD card – so step one is to get NOOBS onto your computer!
Click here to head to the NOOBS download page.
The NOOBS download page will let you choose between NOOBS and “NOOBS Lite.” NOOBS includes a full version of Raspbian, so you can install that particular operating system without using the internet at all. With NOOBS Lite, on the other hand, you’ll need a network connection to install any of the operating systems NOOBS makes available – even Raspbian.
Go ahead and choose whichever version you would like. NOOBS will download as a .zip file, so before you do anything else, go ahead and extract it.
Now you’re going to want to go ahead and stick your SD card into the corresponding slot on your computer. You’re going to want to format it as FAT. There are a few ways to do this:
On Mac or Windows, use the SD Association’s Formatting Tool (Mac users can also just use the disk utility). Make sure the “Format size adjustment” option is set to “on.” Then erase it in FAT (or MS-DOS) format.