(Apologies for the extended blurb before my questions.)
I’ve only just purchased a Raspberry Pi.
It came with pre-installed software, I think it’s called Raspbian.
I’m sure I want to install/run something better and I was told that I need XBMC. And it seems that this has changed to OSMC.
My question is:
Do I install the OSMC software onto a new SD Card, or is the OSMC
software installed onto the same card that has the Raspbian
software.
If it’s onto a new SD card, then when I install the card into the Raspberry Pi, and power it up, will the OSMC software boot up and show it’s screen, like Raspbian does?
1, You can install OSMC onto the same card that was supplied with your PI (Although this will overwrite Raspbian). If you still want to keep Raspbian for other purposes then i’d get another SD card.
2, Once you’ve imaged the card you put it into the Pi and turn it on, it’ll go through a short install process (Visible on screen) and then you’ll be presented with the main OSMC screen.
If you install OSMC onto an SD card, it will boot up and load Kodi (what was previously known as XBMC). You don’t really need to use 2 cards, you can install both OS’s on the same one if you use NOOBS. Note that installing NOOBS on your SD requires formatting it (which means everything in it will be deleted), so back up any data you might have in there.
You will need an internet connection in order to install OSMC from NOOBS. Be sure to install all the OS’s you want when running NOOBS for the first time, because if you want to install another one you will probably need to format again (but I highly doubt you will need anything other than Raspbian and OSMC).
One last note: If it’s a Pi2, make sure you pick a Pi2 OS from the NOOBS menu for optimal performance.
Thank you for the replies.
I installed OSMC onto a new SD card. Fitted the card into the Raspberry. Switched everything on. The software installed itself and I got the OSMC screen.
Now. If there were some simple step-by-step instructions as to how to get some TV on, or films, then that would be fantastic!
At the moment, it’s pretty useless.
(I know you’re having a chuckle to yourself, at this newbie, but, there it is!)
What you need is a Kodi tutorial. You can find some on Youtube, look for something like “best addons for Kodi” or “Kodi tutorial”. Kodi is an excellent media server for both legal and not-so-legal usage (just don’t expect help with the not-so-legal aspect on this forum).
Rick, it sort of depends what you want to do with it. Are you wanting to play films that you already have as files on your PC or are you wanting to use it to stream content from the Internet (BBC iPlayer, YouTube etc.)? There are a few different use cases.
As misled3k says, there are a bunch of Kodi tutorials out there. Kodi (used to be called XBMC) is the software you are actually using, OSMC is the operating system as a whole that wraps it all up for you.
Thanks for the replies.
(And please don’t think that I’ve not tried, before asking the question here.)
All the videos and tutorials I can find, all refer to XBMC, with the appropriate screens etc…
No screenshots of OSMC to follow.
They ask you to go to system, which doesn’t seem to exist on OSMC, then they ask you to click on install from zip file - which I’ve not managed to find.
Any videos I watch (no matter how carefully) the menu systems shown do not make sense.
No matter how hard I try, I cannot find ‘install from zip file’ on OSMC.
So, I’m not getting anywhere.
EDIT: OK. It seems that you go to [Settings] - [Add-ons] - [Install from zip file]
That’s where it is on OSMC.
OSMC comes with a custom skin bundled. You can reset it to the default one (called “Confluence”) in the system menu. That will probably make it easier to follow the tutorials!