How to install Kodi on Ubuntu based systems
Kodi has become probably the largest media center application in use today across a broad range of devices. I remember first using Kodi when it was called XBMC for Xbox Media Center.
An old friend of mine about a decade ago installed it onto his original Xbox with a new Hard Drive, and loaded it with Emulators for Playstation, N64 etc. Nowadays, Kodi is used mostly for streaming, as a way to access your favourite internet TV stations and streaming sites all in one place (besides a browser.)
Granted, Kodi is often used to use pirate video sources to stream movies and shows illegally; I won't be instructing on how to install said things.
Installing Kodi on Ubuntu
Installation of Kodi on Ubuntu / Ubuntu based systems is incredibly easy thanks to the use of the official Kodi PPA.
To install Kodi, we need to add the PPA, and then install the program.
- sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
- sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
- sudo apt update
- sudo apt install kodi
Note: Kodi maintains three repositories:
- Final release builds: ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
- Betas and release candidates: ppa:team-xbmc/unstable
- Nightly candidates: ppa:team-xbmc/xbmc-nightly
Voila! You now have Kodi. However, your Kodi is going to be mostly empty, unless you have a collection of media all ready to use, or you add some addons.
For now, let's just add some addons from the Official Kodi repositories, rather than third party; you know, for legal sake.
Open Kodi, and on the main menu to the left, select "Add-ons." From there, you'll want to click the "Install from Repository" button at the top, where you can select from seemingly countless amounts of different add-ons, including "Video Add-ons" which is where you get the idea of internet TV channels . streaming.
Browse through the giant lists, and see what you might find you like! Do keep in mind that while all of the official add-ons are legal, if you intend to add new sources/repositories and install third party add-ons, check with the legality in your country first...And invest in a good VPN.
Uninstalling Kodi
If you want to remove Kodi again, for instance to start anew or because you don't use, you may run the following commands .
- sudo apt-get update
- sudo apt-get remove kodi*
- sudo apt-get purge kodi*
Then run the following command to remove all settings and library data. This won't delete media but the settings only.
