What is a device driver?

Software in OS to manage I/O to a device is  called a device driver
A device driver abstracts specific device hardware into a generic model of I/O device
Makes it easy to port OS and applications to new hardware - device independence

Goals of the OS
Provide a generic, consistent, convenient and reliable way to access I/O devices
As device-independent as possible


http://www0.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/s.wilbur/1b11/1b11-5.pdf