36.2 Software: Drivers

Drivers

A device driver is software which allows the operating system and other software to communicate with hardware components. An example of this would be a printer. The printer’s drivers would allow the operating system and the software you’re using to print, how to print the information.

A sound card driver is a type of driver which transfers signals from the program/software which is emitting it and it formats it to what the speaker can understand and output. This is necessary so the operating system knows how to translate the binary numbers 0s and 1s from e.g. the mp4 file into the correct audio signal format then the sound card will output it to the speaker or any other device like headphones etc. If the driver isn’t installed or is outdated then the computer system will label it as missing hardware as it can’t communicate with so it assumes it’s not there. Sound card drivers communicate with the sound hardware components and normally the drivers come with a CD or disc when you buy a new sound card for your system.

A graphics card driver is software which allows the operating system and other software to communicate with the graphics card hardware component. For gaming, the computer system’s graphics drivers should be updated to the latest version as it will allow to maximise the best performance as it could have some fixes or enhancements.