Device Drivers 101
What is a device driver?
A device driver is a software program that allows other programs within the computer to communicate with a hardware device. This means that every hardware device in the computer requires a driver for it to function properly and for it to obey all the instructions given to it by the software programs that reside in the computer.
Some common types of device drivers include:
Printer drivers
A printer driver or a print processor is a piece of software that converts the data to be printed to the form specific to a printer. The purpose of printer drivers is to allow applications to do printing without being aware of the technical details of each printer model.
Video Adapters drivers
Video adapters are also known as a graphics card, video card, video board, or a video controller. A video adapter is an internal card that allows a display device such as a monitor to display images from the computer. Video adapter drivers make it possible for monitors and other display devices to be able to correctly display output from a computer.
Network Card drivers
A network card is a hardware component that provides communications between a PC and a network connection, typically to a local area network (LAN) or an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Network card drivers ensure that a network card is able to communicate properly with the computer and hence make interconnection between computers possible.
Storage devices drivers
Storage devices in a computer include hard disks, CDROM, floppy disks and USB mass storage devices. For these storage devices to work well and communicate well with computers storage device drivers are required to ensure that the computer is able to read from and write to the hardware device.
Sound Card Drivers
A sound card also known as an audio card is a hardware interface that is either built into a computer’s motherboard or inserted into one of the computer’s internal expansion slots. Sound cards allow the computer to play digital audio and/or musical instrument sounds. Many sound cards also provide a MIDI Interface. Sound card drivers make it possible for the sound card to function properly and make it possible for the computer to produce sound e.g. play music.
Input and output device drivers
Input and Output devices are used to communicate with a computer and they are the devices we use to give instructions to the computer or input data into the computer, examples include mice, keyboards, scanners, digital cameras e.t.c. For these devices to work well with the computer their respective device drivers must be properly installed and running on the computer.
Who makes the device drivers?
Device drivers are usually written by software engineers who come from the companies that develop the hardware. This is because they have better information than most outsiders about the design of their hardware. There are also some generic drivers which are usually written by Operating Systems manufacturers and these drivers can be used when the actual device drivers are not available, unfortunately generic drivers are limited in function and if installed may cause some devices not to function properly.
It is always important that you have the right drivers installed on your computer to ensure that all the devices in your computer are functioning well and you do not get driver related errors when working with your computer.