I have a Raspberry Pi 4 that has a pretty outdated Retropie installation. It's been about five years since I checked in on it, and now I can't access the repository anymore. I'm hoping to repurpose it to run Jellyfin, but I'm curious if I can install a fresh Linux distro directly from the command line, overwriting the old one without having to take out the SD card. Is that feasible? If it isn't, what alternatives do I have?
2 Answers
It's tough to say 'yes' here. You *could* theoretically do it, but given that you're asking this question, it might be much easier to just pull the SD card out and flash it on your computer instead. You'd need a way to network boot or have a USB setup to flash from your current installation, but that's likely more hassle than simply swapping the card.
In theory, you could install a new distro while the current one is running, but it's complicated and risky. You might end up messing things up if you're not careful. It’s generally better to go the traditional route and write a new image to the SD card using a bootable USB if you can. That’s how I set up my devices; it’s much safer!
Absolutely! Just a bootable USB with the new distro should do the trick. Much less stressful!