What is Device Drivers ?

  A device driver is a software interface which manages the communication with, and control of a specific I/O deices , or a type of device . It is the task of the device driver to connect the logical request from the user into specific commands directed to the device itself.

   In UNIX the device drivers are usually linked onto the object code of the kernel (the core of the operating system). This means when a new device is to be used, which was not included in the operating system, the UNIX kernel has to be re-linked with the new device driver object code. In UNIX, each entry, in the/dev directory is associated with a device driver which manages the communication with the related device. A list of some device names is shown below:

                   

                     Device name                            Description

                     /dev/console                             system control

                     /dev/ip                                      line printer

                    /dev/tty01                                  user terminal 1

In windows system device drivers are implemented as dynamic links libraries (DLLS). DLLS contain sharable code which means only one copy of the code needs to be loaded into memory. That in windows system , the idea of plug and play device installation is required to add a new device such as CD drive, etc . The settings would be chosen to suit the host computer configuration.