BioStar 2 Devices on BioStar 1

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.

• 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.

• BioStar 1.91: BioStation 2, BioStation A2, BioStation L2, Secure IO 2
• BioStar 1.92: BioEntry W2, BioStation 2, BioStation A2, BioStation L2, Secure IO 2

• There are no separate firmware files for BioStar 2 devices to be used on BioStar 1.

• 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.

• 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 currently unavailable for BioStar 2 devices. (This feature is called the unlock zone and lock zone in BioStar 2)

• 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).

• 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.

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Template on Card: Template on Card issued on a BioStar 1 device cannot be read in a BioStar 2 device and vice versa.

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