FAQ

General questions

Is HSYCO free?

No. HSYCO requires a paid license, that is associated to the server’s hardware. You can still install and run HSYCO without a license, but all I/O and core functions will be disabled.

Please go to the HSYCO main site for sales information.

Can I buy a software-only version of HSYCO, and install on my PC?

We sell HSYCO as a hardware-software bundle. We use industrial-grade low power servers, that we ship pre-installed with a stripped version of Debian Linux.

We can address specific deployment needs of large organizations, for example to install HSYCO on virtual servers in large data centers. Feel free to contact us and tell us about your requirements.

Installation and configuration questions

Do I need an app to use HSYCO from a smartphone?

The HSYCO client is a pure Web application. You can both use your standard Web browser or our apps for iOS and Android.

Which browser do I need to access the HSYCO control interface?

HSYCO requires JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS3 on the browser, and is compatible with most modern Web browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera and the latest versions of Internet Explorer.

Does HSYCO require the Adobe Flash player, Java, or any other plug-in on my browser?

No. While HSYCO is built in Java on the server, the client side is pure HTML5 and JavaScript.

Does HSYCO require an Internet connection?

Only if you need to use HSYCO from a remote location or if you need Internet access from HSYCO, for example to retrieve the weather information or to automatically adjust the internal clock.

How can I access my HSYCO server remotely?

You will need to directly access your HSYCO server, usually via an HTTPS (secure HTTP) connection. You will need a public IP (static or dynamic) and configure your router/firewall to forward the HTTPS requests to the HSYCO server in your LAN.

Is HSYCO a plug-and-play supervision system?

While HSYCO is quite easy to configure, it is an extremely flexible and powerful supervision solution. You will need to manually define the configuration parameters and design your own control pages. The process is effectively supported by several integrated development tools.

Is HSYCO a cloud service?

Absolutely not. HSYCO is a local dedicated server, that is completely under your own control and ownership. HSYCO doesn’t depend on any portal or external infrastructure.

Can I access the HSYCO server’s Linux operating system and make configuration changes?

Yes. HSYCO is not a closed appliance, but a Java core software running on a standard Linux operating system. You have full root access to the operating system, with no restrictions. Of course you are fully responsible for any configuration or version changes to the operating system. Tweaking the operating system will not void the hardware warranty, but we may charge you to restore a server to its original settings if asked to do so.

Does HSYCO run with any free Java Virtual Machine?

HSYCO is developed and tested using the Oracle Java Embedded Virtual Machine. This is a commercial product that we license from Oracle and install on each server. We do not test HSYCO with other virtual machines.

Is HSYCO automatically upgraded to the latest version?

No. Because HSYCO is used to implement critical supervision systems and runs continuously and unattended, it would be impossible for us to support an automatic upgrade process without risking the integrity and continuity of its services. You are responsible to upgrade the HSYCO software version, as well as the underlying operating system, based on your needs.

Development questions

Do I need to be a Java developer to create my supervision application using HSYCO?

No. You don’t need any programming language at all to design a fully functional user interface. HSYCO has friendly Web-based tools to create logic rules between inputs and outputs. And you can use a simple declarative language called EVENTS, or write code in JavaScript and have access to most features. You only really need Java for advanced programming tasks, like writing your own device driver.

If HSYCO doesn’t support a specific product I would like to integrate, is there anything I can do?

HSYCO offers a standard API to let you write device drivers. This is the same API we, the developers of HSYCO, also use when writing drivers. So you can do pretty much all we can do. Of course you can also ask us to develop custom drivers for you.

Can I heavily customize the user interface design?

Sure. Based on your level of HTML5, CSS and JavaScript skills you should be able to completely redesign the user interface appearance and behavior. Theoretically, with a little bit of extra support from us (this is beyond the scope of the official development documentation), you could even rewrite the Web-based client yourself.

Can I write code in HSYCO to access an external SQL database or other application services?

Yes. Anything you can do in a standard Java application, is also perfectly feasible in HSYCO. HSYCO doesn’t restrict in any way what you can do with the standard JavaScript and Java languages. So, talking SQL, if your database system has a JDBC API, you will be able to use the SQL server from your Java, or JavaScript, code in HSYCO.