Ever since the Pi 2 came out, I’ve been a little bit unsettled with my choice of Raspberry Pi Media centre. I was originally a happy user of RaspBMC, but as the Pi 2 wasn’t initially supported by RaspBMC, I moved over to OpenELEC and have been reasonably happy ever since.
RaspBMC has since come to the end of its busy life, with OSMC (Open Source Media Centre) taking over. OSMC is a different beast all together, supporting a wide range of devices rather than just the Raspberry Pi. I decided to give it a try and install it on a USB stick.
However, one thing hasn’t changed since the RaspBMC days – the confusing process of installing to a USB stick. It’s a little bit unclear and results in many people scratching their heads , so I thought I’d share how to do this.
Why move to OSMC?
The whole ‘OpenELEC vs OSMC’ argument is a highly debated topic on many forums across the internet, and don’t forget, they’re not the only options for your Pi media needs.
Whilst I was happy with OpenELEC, I was aware that OSMC had come a long way so I wanted to give it a whirl. Considering it’s just a case of changing over the SD card/USB stick – why not?
The general impression I get from the internet is that OpenELEC gives you a simple, easy and basic media centre, whilst OSMC comes with lots of ‘extras’ such as remote support, overclocking menus, different services and all sorts of other magic.
So it depends what you want your media centre to do, and of course, your own personal preference and opinion.
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Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!