Here's a question that I've had ever since WAAAAAY back in 3rd Ed.

How does Bioware show up on the astral? Because it is organic (and thus it gives off an aura), my friends and I assumed it didn't show up on the astral as 'holes' like cyberware does. But now, in 4th ed, it counts as essence loss, which can show up on an assensing test.

So, can a biosam (Street Sam with predominantly Bioware) walk around with less hassling from people on the astral because he looks more "normal" or will he show up just as freaky as a fully tricked out CyberSam?

He looks more normal, but not completely so. Check out p. 183 in your hymnal, the big chart in the middle, the entry for 4 hits.

the essence loss would show, but would only indicate higher or lower than the caster (lower should be no surprise... many mages would have 6 essence, and those with less likely don't have much less...) and only on 3 hits or better. 2 hits would show nothing. 4 hits would reveal the presence of bioware, and it's location, but that's it.

considering that essence loss can come from many things other than bioware (burnout addictions, essence drain) and also considering that alphaware shows up on 3 hits only, most assensers will average 2 hits (from 6 dice) and will assume that you just have alphaware datajacks, commlinks, etc rather than assume bioware imo.

however, a sufficiently skilled (or lucky) astral perception check could find it, or if they are just pulling anyone out of the line who shows essence loss, they might hassle you to try and figure out what it is. generally speaking, though, you shouldn't be bothered much imo.