Q9Operating System
Question
2 marks
What is a Device Driver?
Answer
A device driver is a software module that controls and manages a specific hardware device, providing a standard interface between the OS kernel and the hardware.
A device driver is a specialized software component that allows the operating system to communicate with and control a hardware device (such as a keyboard, mouse, graphics card, or disk drive). It translates generic OS I/O commands into device-specific instructions understood by the hardware. Each device has its own driver that is either built into the kernel or loaded as a kernel module. Device drivers run in kernel mode and handle interrupts from devices. Examples: GPU drivers (NVIDIA, AMD), network card drivers, USB drivers.