Running Gira Homeserver 4.11 on a Dell Optiplex FX160

This guide walks you through installing the Gira Homeserver 4.11 firmware on a Dell Optiplex FX160, based on a forum thread (original in German) at [RoelBroersma.nl Forums]. It reflects my personal experience and modifications—use it at your own risk.

1. Install Debian (Base System)

Use Debian 13 AMD64.
Download the netinstall ISO and boot from it.
Create a single primary partition (sda1), formatted as ext4, mounted as /, marked bootable, with GRUB installed in the same partition.
Create a user named hs.
During setup, minimal software is fine—just install SSH if you want remote access.

At this point, you should be able to boot into Debian, log in as root or hs, and get a console.

2. Rename Network Interface (to `eth0`)

Modern Debian gives NICs names like ens33 or enp0s3, but the Homeserver firmware expects eth0.

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Find:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

Change to:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0"

Then:

sudo update-grub

Next, edit /etc/network/interfaces and replace the old interface name (e.g., ens33) with eth0. You can also set a static IP if needed.

3. (Optional) Allow Root Login via SSH

sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
# Under "Authentication":
PermitRootLogin yes

Restart SSH service:

sudo systemctl restart ssh

4. Install Prerequisite Packages

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y \
  python-is-python3 \
  python3-pil \
  python3-numpy \
  python3-serial \
  openssl \
  mc \
  setserial \
  joe \
  net-tools \
  cpio \
  psmisc \
  haproxy \
  zip \
  chrony

(On Debian 9, use the original package names: python, python-pil, etc.)

5. Extract the HS Firmware from VMware Image

Download an original Gira Homeserver 4.11 VMware image as described in the forum.
Boot that VM and package the required directories into a TAR:

tar -cvf hs411_fw.tar \
  /flash/* \
  /ofs/share/* \
  /etc/init.d/hs_starter \
  /etc/init.d/hs_main \
  /etc/init.d/hs_admin \
  /etc/init.d/ctradel

Copy hs411_fw.tar to your Debian machine:

sudo tar -xvf hs411_fw.tar -C /

6. Fix Startup Script (`hs_starter`)

Edit /etc/init.d/hs_starter and insert a short delay to avoid a race condition:

/etc/init.d/hs_main &amp;
pid1=$!
sleep 3
/etc/init.d/hs_admin

7. Enable Autostart with `systemd`

Create a service unit:

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/hs_starter.service >/dev/null &lt;&lt;'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=Homeserver Starter
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/etc/init.d/hs_starter
RemainAfterExit=yes

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

Enable and start it:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable hs_starter
sudo systemctl start hs_starter
systemctl status hs_starter

8. Test

Start it manually:

sudo /etc/init.d/hs_starter
ps aux | grep hs_main

If HS starts, reboot and let systemd handle it automatically.

Notes & Observations

I originally followed this process based on the “4.11 auf einem Standard Debian Linux” forum post (in German)RoelBroersma.nl and tailored it to my hardware.
On Debian 9, the network interface was ens33; on Debian 13 it differed (I didn’t note the name).
If /etc/init.d/ctradel doesn’t exist, create a stub to avoid script errors: echo -e '#!/bin/sh\nexit 0' | sudo tee /etc/init.d/ctradel sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/ctradel
The Optiplex FX160 is a bit dated, but with an SSD it runs the Homeserver surprisingly well.

Disclaimer

This guide is published for educational and training purposes only.
It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Gira Giersiepen GmbH & Co. KG.
All product names, trademarks, and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.

The intention of this post is to document a technical experiment on legacy hardware (Dell Optiplex FX160) for learning purposes.
If you plan to run a Gira Homeserver in production, please obtain the official hardware and licenses directly from Gira.

Running Gira Homeserver 4.11 on a Dell Optiplex FX160