I think one of the coolest aspects of Linux distros is the sheer number of them. You might think of Linux distros as something akin to Windows and macOS, with a desktop that you run apps on. However, there are some distros that do one specific job, and they do it very, very well.

LibreELEC is one such distro. The app's main motto is "Just enough OS for Kodi," and it lives up to that manta very well. LibreELEC will supply you with enough of an operating system to run the Kodi media player, and that's it. While that may sound like a downside, the truth is that LibreELEC's simplicity makes it an ideal pick for your home theatre.

LibreELEC does one job, and it does it very well

Nothing unnecessary loaded

So, let's say you're setting up a home theatre server. You don't want to use this server for anything else; its sole purpose is to show movies and videos on your big screen. Which operating system do you put on it?

While you may go for something like Windows at first, the issue is that these larger operating systems are designed to do a lot more than run videos. They update themselves, keep their apps current, and tick over the background services that allow everything to work. However, because it's a dedicated home theatre server, using all of that power to perform jobs that the operating system will very rarely actually do is a bit of a waste.

That's why LibreELEC's "Just enough OS for Kodi" design philosophy is so good for this job. There are no additional services or apps that get in the way of your home theatre server. LibreELEC will supply you with the tools to run media, and then stop there. That means all of that processing power is going into, you know, rendering those videos you want to play.

LibreELEC can handle whatever you throw at it with ease

It's really easy to load it full of media

One of the key elements to LibreELEC that I love with my own media center is the ability to load media onto it without much effort. Say you've downloaded a video and you want to move it over to your LibreELEC device. Instead of moving it over using a USB stick or an SD card, you can tell LibreELEC to keep an eye out for any incoming network connections. Then, you can drag the video on your host computer onto the LibreELEC drive over the network. I use this feature all the time to load up stuff I want to watch later.

Not only that, but LibreELEC has a pretty vast range of addons. The base operating system is deliberaly kept pretty bare-bones, but if it's missing a feature, an addon can fix that. For instance, I really like using the Twitch addon to load up a stream when I'm watching something like ADGQ or a streamer is doing a marathon event. I get a lot of use out of it, but if you personally don't want that, you can simply leave the add-ons alone, and you won't have a ton of features you don't want cluttering up your system. LibreELEC is as feature-rich or as barren as you like.

LibreELEC can run on really lightweight hardware

No need to pay for power you won't use

Because LibreELEC keeps things trim, that means you don't need a big, beefy computer to run it on. I mean, you can run it on one if you like, but the key is that it may not be essential for what you're trying to do. Case in point: my media server runs LibreELEC on a Raspberry Pi 3, which is just powerful enough to handle what I use it for. I haven't tried putting really high-res videos on it, but if it didn't work out, I could just use a Pi 4 or 5 instead.

Because it's so lightweight, that means the setup costs are really cheap. Not only that, but because you're not using lots of powerful hardware for your server, that means you can keep it running 24/7, and it will barely make a dent on your power bill. Sounds like a win-win to me.

LibreELEC is what your home theatre setup is missing

While at first glance, LibreELEC may seem lacking, you'll quickly learn that its bare-bones approach is actually its main forte. If you haven't given it a shot yet, I recommend doing so, and kitting it out with the add-ons you need to get it working the way you want it to.