- software that controls one specific type of device
- software must match hardware
- usually for a particular model of some type of device
or a class of similar devices
- e.g., disks compatible with IBM 3380
- e.g., dumb terminal
- trends:
- more and more of device driver is in tabular format
- low--level device drivers can be easily added and removed from the system
- interfaces to devices are becoming simpler as devices become more autononous
(e.g., recent disk devices manage their own sectors, tracks, and cylinders)
Howard Hamilton
Wed Feb 2 10:00:00 CST 2000