BioStar 1 is designed to support BioStar 2 devices with some limitations, because BioStar 1 system and BioStar 2 system are different from many aspects. This document gives you a brief overview on what limitations and differences BioStar 2 devices have on BioStar 1.


Caution: Please consult us first before proceeding with a project if you are going to connect more than 50 2nd generation devices with BioStar 1.93. 
It is strongly recommended to use BioStar 2 for large sites.


Overview


  • BioStar 2 devices basically follow the rules and concepts of the BioStar 1 system. BioStar 2 devices have expanded sets of features and more capabilities than BioStar 1 devices. The features and capabilities of BioStar 2 devices are constrained by the features and capabilities of the BioStar 1 system to maintain the consistency with the BioStar 1 system.



Supported BioStar 2 Devices


  • BioStar 1.91: BioStation 2, BioStation A2, BioStation L2, Secure IO 2

  • BioStar 1.92, 1.93: BioEntry W2, BioStation 2, BioStation A2, BioStation L2, Secure IO 2


Compatible Firmware

  • The firmware released in the future may not work with BioStar 1.93 because of the changes made in the firmware. 

    The last compatible firmware tested with BioStar 1.93 are as follows: 


    BEW2 : 1.1.5 - 20171026

    BS2 : 1.5.0 - 20170927

    BSA2 : 1.4.0 - 20170927

    BSL2 : 1.2.4 - 20170830


User


  • Department: BioStar 2 devices do not store department information on the devices.

  • PIN: BioStar 2 devices encrypt PIN data whereas BioStar 1 devices do not. When you transfer users from BioStar to BioStar 2 devices, the PIN data is encrypted and transferred, allowing users to use PIN authentication on BioStar 2 devices. However, if you retrieve users with PIN from BioStar 2 devices, the PIN data is not usable because it is one-way encrypted.

  • Enrolling a user on slave devices: With BioStar 2 devices, you cannot enroll users on the slave devices. On the BioStar 2 system, a slave device works as a dummy device and does not have users on the device.


Door


  • Device compatibility: You cannot use BioStar 1 devices with BioStar 2 devices for a door. For example, if you’ve specified a BioStar 1 device as an entry device on the door configuration, you can choose BioStar 1 devices only as an exit device.

  • Unlock Time / Lock Time: This feature is supported starting in BioStar 1.93. (This feature is called the unlock zone and lock zone in BioStar 2)


Zone


  • Device compatibility: You cannot use BioStar 1 devices with BioStar 2 device for a zone. For example, if you’ve specified BioStar 1 devices in an Anti-passback zone as member devices, you cannot add BioStar 2 devices to the zone.

  • Supported zones: BioStar 2 devices are supported in Anti-passback zone and Fire Alarm zone only as local zones (RS485 connection).



Access Control


  • Both BioStar 1 and 2 devices have the default access group option: Full Access and No Access. The Full Access of BioStar 2 devices is different from the one of BioStar 1 devices. With BioStar 1 devices, if the device’s default access group is set to Full Access, whether the user can gain access depends on the matching access group. If the time when the authentication takes place is not within the time schedule of the matching access group, the user will not gain access. If the time when the authentication takes place is within the time schedule, the user will gain access. With BioStar 2 devices, if the device’s default access group is Full Access, the device does not use access group information to determine if the user is allowed to gain access. This means that the user will always gain access if the credential matching (e.g. fingerprint, card) succeeds.

  • Holiday: Holiday configuration with the Days Long feature is not supported with BioStar 2 devices.


























If you want to apply a long holiday, you will have to add multiple 1 day holiday into your holiday schedule (maximum is 128 days)


Monitoring

  • Unregistered card: When an unregistered card is read on the device, 1st generation devices show the card ID on the user ID field. For 2nd generation devices, there isn't a way to show the user id with the card number in LSB or MSB format so the card ID read is not shown in the monitoring page. 


Device


  • Master-Slave: When you configure a Master-Slave configuration through RS485, you cannot use BioStar 1 devices with BioStar 2 devices. The RS485 protocol between BioStar 1 and 2 devices is different and are not compatible.

  • Device tree: BioStar 2 devices will be always located on the BioStar Server tree regardless of the connection mode. With BioStar 1 devices, the devices are located on the BioStar Server tree when the devices are in the device-to-server connection mode.

  • Apply to Others: You can only use the Apply to Others feature between 2nd generation devices. You can't mix transfer the configuration of 1st generation device to a second generation device and vice versa. (This feature is not available in BioStar 1.92)

  • Network tab: The RS485 mode of BioStar 2 devices have three different values: Default, Host and Slave. When the device’s RS485 mode is Default, the device works as a standalone device or its RS485 mode changes to Slave if it is connected to a Host device through the RS485 interface.

  • Input/output tab: BioStar 2 Devices only has the Input tab, because the BioStar 2 system has adopted the Trigger-and-Action concept. For more detailed information on the Trigger-and-Action concept, please refer to BioStar 2 Administrator Guide.

  • Wiegand tab: BioStar 2 devices have the extension mode only. BioStar 2 devices only support Wiegand (Card) In / Out and does not support sending out user ID.

  • MIFARE card CSN: The byte order of a MIFARE card on BioStar 2 devices is opposite to the one on BioStar 1 devices. If the byte order of BioStar 1 devices is set to MSB, you need to set the byte order of BioStar 2 devices to LSB and vice versa.

  • Private Authentication: Private authentication is unavailable for BioStar 2 devices. However, you can still issue bypass cards for card only mode.

  • Template on Card: Template on Card issued on a BioStar 2 device can be read in BioStar 2 devices but cannot be read in a BioStar 1 device. Template on Card issued in BioStar 1 device can be read in both BioStar 1 and 2 device if there is no site key applied. (If you need the site key applied, you can go through a customization project.)* You must use BioStar 1.93 version for this feature
    Your v2 and v1 smart card layout has to be the same for the card to be read properly.
    Your v1 device CIS Index block has to be the same value as the v2 devices start block index.

    Configure from the following menu:
    Option > Card > XX Layout > Apply to Devices

    V1 device:
    V2 device: