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Device Drivers

The operating-system components that mediate between the kernel and specific hardware devices, translating generic I/O requests into device-register operations and handling interrupts and DMA. Drivers program hardware through a low-level interface and are a common source of systems bugs.

Questions this Concept answers

Why does an operating system need a separate driver for each kind of device?

jeremy Text

Kernel (operating system)

Hardware is all different, and no operating system can know the details of every card, disk and printer people plug in. A device driver is the piece of software that stands between the kernel and one…