In this email I'm going to help you understand the computer term
"driver". Like so many computer terms, driver isn't very well
understood by most people. And in many cases, isn't understood at all.
Of course, as always, remember that's not a criticism -- if you didn't
understand what a driver was before this, it's just because it was never
explained to you the right way before.
Let's see what I can do to fix that.
A driver is a special type of software that's needed to get different pieces
of hardware to work right with your computer.
Didn't make sense yet? Bear with me.
First off, just to make sure we're all on the same page, let me briefly
explain the difference between "hardware" and "software".
It's actually pretty simple -- "hardware" refers to all of the physical pieces
of equipment, like your mouse, your computer's screen (or monitor), the
hard drive, etc.
"Software" is all of the parts of the computer that you can't really see or
touch. Software would include things like Microsoft Word, your email
program, Windows or the Mac OS, plus all of your personal files like letters,
photos, music, and more.
One way to think about it is like this: hardware is like your brain, the
physical part of your body, while software is like your mind or your
thoughts -- the non-physical part of yourself.
Software runs on hardware, just like your thoughts "run on" your brain.
Make sense? Now let's talk more specifically about drivers.
Here's the easy way to think about what a driver is. Imagine that every
piece of hardware, including your printer, your mouse, and so on, speaks
a different language.
So one speaks French, another one speaks Italian, another one Cantonese,
etc.
So when you plug in a new printer and turns it on, your computer says "hi"
and the printer replies in a foreign language the computer doesn't understand.
So it needs an interpreter.
And when I say interpreter, I mean just like in the real world, like if a foreign
diplomat comes to the country but doesn't speak the local language. They
need an interpreter to help them communicate with the locals.
That, basically speaking, is what a driver is -- an interpreter that helps
your computer talk to a specific piece of equipment. And (generally speaking)
you need a different interpreter for each piece of equipment that you hook
up to the computer.
Make sense?
Now in some cases, the driver may be "preinstalled" on your computer
(in other words, the computer already has the interpreter ready and waiting
in case it's needed) and in other cases, it needs to either be installed from
a CD, or downloaded off the Internet, and then installed on the computer.
But either way, the computer needs that driver before it can talk to the
printer or whatever other type of device you may have hooked up to the
computer.
Hope that makes sense.
Until next time, enjoy,
Worth Godwin
Plain English Simplicity For This Complex Modern World
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