Examples of device

drivers

SafeBytes Software
The device driver is attached to the computer, in
order to provide it with the right software that can be
used to interface with the hardware devices. It also
enables other computer programs to gain access to
the functions of a given piece of hardware.

This eliminates the need to have very precise details

of what hardware needs to be used. The device driver
is therefore, a conduit of functionality.

In order to achieve this it uses a communications

subsystem that is commonly known as a computer
bus.

The process starts when a calling program requests a

certain routine, which passes through the driver in
order to command the device to perform that
particular function.
Invoking routines and controlling use

If there is a faulty device driver, then it becomes very

difficult to use that driver. All hardware functionality is
dependent on the operating system and the messages
from that operating system pass through the device
driver.

It is what is known as interrupt handling in industry

jargon. This is what is required for asynchronous
hardware interfaces that are time-dependent. One of
the things that one has to be aware of is the distinction
between Kernel and User modes. The Microsoft Windows
platform allows you to run in kernel mode which is Ring
0 on x86 CPUs. Alternatively, you can run in the user
mode which is Ring 3 on x86 CPUs.

The advantages of the user mode include an increased

level of stability. For example, a user mode that has not
been written correctly will not crash the system. This
could happen if it can overwrite the Kernel memory.
However, you need to be wary of the fact that the
transition from kernel to user can entail a rather large
This could have the effect of prohibiting the user-mode
drivers, especially if they incorporate throughput
requirements and low latency.

It is through the use of system calls that you will be

able to access the Kernel space. In this case the user
space includes programs such as GUI and UNIX. The
kernel supported functions allow the application to
interact with the hardware.
Operation and usefulness

These can work with adapters, printers, network cards,

buses, sound cards, storage devices, CD-ROMs as well
as all types of floppy disk busses such as SATA, ATA and
SCSI.

The sound cards with local buses, particularly for

mastering.
The list of low-bandwidth buses includes USB ports,
keyboards and mouse. They are also applicable to
image scanners and digital cameras.

It is expected that there is a certain sliding scale of

abstraction, which includes direct interfacing; writing
on a device control register; working with a higher
level interface such as BIOS; operating with a lower-
level device driver and simulating using hardware.

In the case of software, you have the same sliding

scale that starts with allowing the operating system
to directly access the hardware resources. On
another level, you can use primitives or using an
interface via the operation of a non-software
package such as TWAIN. Finally, you can use an
implementation language such as PostScript.