Device Drivers (OCR A Level Computer Science)
Revision Note
Written by: Callum Davies
Reviewed by: James Woodhouse
Device Drivers
What is a Device Driver?
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 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
Worked Example
Adding a DVD drive to a computer often requires the installation of a piece of software called a device driver.
State the purpose of a device driver.
[1]
How to answer this question:
Pick one example of a hardware device and describe what happens between it and the operating system
Explain that this is made possible through device driver software
Answer:
Example answer that gets full marks:
The purpose of a device driver is to enable the operating system to interact with and control a hardware device. For example, a printer would have an associated device driver so the OS could send or receive data from a printer system.
Acceptable answers you could have given instead:
The purpose of a device driver is to enable communication between an operating system and external hardware.
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