Device Drivers

• What is a Device Driver? #1

  • A device driver is a piece of software that enables communication between an operating system and specific hardware devices such as: 
  • Printers 
  • Graphics cards 
  • Network cards 
• • Device Drivers #2
  • Device drivers allow the OS to control and interact with those devices 
  • Because many external devices have embedded system software, a driver bridges the gap between a major operating system and a tiny hardware OS 
  • Device drivers make it possible to perform specific operations on the hardware e.g. a printer driver enables the OS to send print commands and manage print jobs 
  • Most hardware manufacturers write their own device driver software, meaning a single operating system may have several printer drivers installed