Editing Device driver (section)

==Applications==
Because of the diversity of {{as of | 2009 | alt = modern}} hardware and operating systems, drivers operate in many different environments.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfU7RtI7OX8C&q=applications+device+driver|title=Understanding Computers 2009: Today and Tomorrow|year=2009|author=Deborah Morley|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=9780324830132|access-date=2020-11-10|archive-date=2021-06-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609160421/https://books.google.com/books?id=tfU7RtI7OX8C&q=applications+device+driver|url-status=live}}</ref> Drivers may [[interface (computer science)|interface]] with:

* [[Computer printer|Printers]]
* [[Video adapters]]
* [[Network cards]]
* [[Sound card]]s
* [[PC chipset]]s
* [[Power management|Power]] and [[battery management]]
* Local [[Computer bus|buses]] of various sorts—in particular, for [[bus mastering]] on modern systems
* Low-[[bandwidth (computing)|bandwidth]] [[I/O]] buses of various sorts (for [[pointing device]]s such as [[Computer mouse|mice]], [[Computer keyboard|keyboard]]s, etc.)
* [[Computer storage]] devices such as [[hard disk]], [[CD-ROM]], and [[floppy disk]] buses ([[Advanced Technology Attachment|ATA]], [[SATA]], [[SCSI]], [[Serial Attached SCSI|SAS]])
* Implementing support for different [[file system]]s
* [[Image scanner]]s
* [[Digital camera]]s
* [[Digital terrestrial television|Digital terrestrial television tuners]]
* Radio frequency communication transceiver adapters for [[Personal area network|wireless personal area networks]] as used for short-distance and low-rate wireless communication in home automation, (such as example [[Bluetooth Low Energy|Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)]], [[Thread (network protocol)|Thread]], [[Zigbee]], and [[Z-Wave]]).
* [[IrDA]] adapters

Common levels of abstraction for device drivers include:
* For hardware:
** Interfacing directly
** Writing to or reading from a [[device control register]]
** Using some higher-level interface (e.g. [[Video BIOS]])
** Using another lower-level device driver (e.g. file system drivers using disk drivers)
** Simulating work with hardware, while doing something entirely different<ref name="Computer Peripherals and Interfaces">{{cite book|title=Computer Peripherals and Interfaces|date=January 2008|publisher=Technical Publications Pune|isbn=978-8184314748|pages=5–8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uK01xKT_mAMC&q=Simulating+work+with+hardware%2C+while+doing+something+entirely+different&pg=SA5-PA8|access-date=2016-05-03|ref=CPIbook}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* For software:
** Allowing the operating system direct access to hardware resources
** Implementing only [[primitive (computer science)|primitive]]s
** Implementing an interface for non-driver software (e.g. [[TWAIN]])
** Implementing a language, sometimes quite high-level (e.g. [[PostScript]])

So choosing and installing the correct device drivers for given hardware is often a key component of computer system configuration.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.drivers.com/update/drivers-news/what-are-device-drivers-and-why-do-we-need-them/|title=What are Device Drivers and why do we need them?|date=April 17, 2015|access-date=March 19, 2018|website=drivers.com|archive-date=November 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161120050252/http://www.drivers.com/update/drivers-news/what-are-device-drivers-and-why-do-we-need-them/|url-status=live}}</ref>