Figure out the difference between firmware, driver and software

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No matter what operating system we use , Whether it's Windows、macOS still Linux , There are many software installed inside 、 Drivers and firmware . however , The three concepts are different ？

I did a little survey in my circle of friends , I found that many people don't know their relationship , So write this article to give you a simple popular science .

 

The text description is too abstract , Let's go straight to the comics .

Okay , After reading the cartoon , Let's see what the formal explanation is .

simply , The firmware 、 The fundamental difference between drivers and software is their design purpose .

• Firmware is a program that gives life to device hardware
• The driver is the intermediary between the operating system and hardware components
• Software can operate hardware indirectly

1. The firmware

The firmware （Firmware） It's writing ROM （ read-only memory ） Program in , Firmware serves as the most basic and bottom work of a system , Direct control hardware , For example, the first program to start after the computer is powered on BIOS , It can interact with hardware , And check it for any errors .

BIOS Call another program called the boot loader , This program wakes up the operating system sleeping in the hard disk drive and puts it into random access memory (RAM) The job of .

We can see firmware on many devices , Including computers 、 mobile phone 、 The remote control 、 console 、 Intelligent Watch 、USB Drivers and various embedded systems . Even the TV remote control has a pre installed firmware , You can change the TV channel when you press the button .

2. drive

drive （Drive）： A driver is a small piece of code added to the operating system , It contains information about hardware devices . When a computer program requests to interact with a hardware device , The device driver acts as a converter of instructions between the hardware device and the program using it .

The operating system does not support all the hardware on the machine , So generally speaking, hardware manufacturers should write drivers for their own hardware .

Each driver is designed to work for a particular device or group of devices . On the computer , The driver uses various bus interfaces to contact the device . Besides , Drivers generally do not interact directly with users , So many users are completely unaware of their existence .

Driver development requires great care , Because it deals directly with hardware , It also deals with the operating system . If there is a problem with the device driver , May cause system crash , That's why you need a professional or team to write drivers for your devices .

But why not put Firmware Well done , It doesn't need driver support ？ Because there are different operating systems , These operating systems operate the hardware in a completely different way . Therefore, drivers of different operating systems are incompatible , The reason is that drivers serve the operating system .

3. Software

Unlike hardware , The software runs in the computer , Can't see, can't touch .

The operating system is also a software , It also provides a workspace for other software installed on the operating system . The device driver mentioned earlier is actually a kind of software , But it has a more subdivided category , It's called system software .

If the user writes a software , Want to operate the hardware （ Like an optical drive 、U Plate, etc. ）, It must be implemented through the interface provided by the operating system , And can't interact directly with the hardware .

It's worth noting that , Software is a broad term . What we say in daily use 「 Software 」 Generally refers to application software , such as ： WeChat ,QQ, Browsers and so on .

What else don't understand , Welcome to the comment area ~