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Device Drivers - Isaac Computer Science

Device drivers are programs that control hardware devices and allow operating systems and software to interact with devices without dealing with their specific implementations. Drivers are installed to extend OS functionality and allow programs to call driver routines to perform tasks or handle interrupts from devices.

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27 views

Device Drivers - Isaac Computer Science

Device drivers are programs that control hardware devices and allow operating systems and software to interact with devices without dealing with their specific implementations. Drivers are installed to extend OS functionality and allow programs to call driver routines to perform tasks or handle interrupts from devices.

Uploaded by

yahyahamedhusam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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4/21/24, 6:00 PM Device drivers — Isaac Computer Science

Home Device drivers

Device drivers

A Level What are drivers?

A device driver is a program that controls the operation of a specific type of device (e.g. printer, keyboard, mouse, etc.) that is part of a
computer system. Manufacturers build hardware devices in different ways — a device driver provides an interface that allows the operating
system and other software to interact with the device, without having to deal with the particular hardware implementation of the device. The
device drivers are installed into the operating system on demand, extending the functionality of the operating system.

Figure 1: Drivers extend the functionality of an operating system.

Installing device drivers


Typically, drivers are installed using software routines that are either built into the operating system, or where necessary, downloaded from
the internet. For example, when a specialist keyboard is connected to a computer, the operating system will detect the model of the
keyboard and download the suitable driver from the manufacturer's website.

Older systems, or systems with specialist hardware, might need to install device drivers from physical storage media, such as a CD
provided by the manufacturer.

Should a specific device driver either not be found or not be installed, the operating system may load a generic device driver. A generic
device driver may not be as well-suited to the device as a specific device driver:

The generic device driver may be missing features that the specific device driver would provide
The operation of a generic device driver may be inefficient, meaning that the computer system’s performance would slow down

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4/21/24, 6:00 PM Device drivers — Isaac Computer Science

A Level Driver routines

When a program requests to interact with a hardware device, it calls a routine within the driver software of that device. The routines will
cause the device to perform specific tasks.

The drivers may also receive requests from the device that require the processor to be interrupted. The driver will then provide the interrupt
handling instructions to the operating system.

All teaching materials on this site are available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated.

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